A garrison court of Russia’s Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky has sentenced service member Alexey Breusov to 1 year and 8 months of prison for refusing to carry out an order in war time and to participate in hostilities, Kam 24 local news outlet reports.
Mediazona noticed the case file published on the court’s website.
The court reported that the serviceman on 6 October “violated the Russian army internal service charter and the Russian army disciplinary charter, realising that a mobilisation was announced in Russia and rejecting the idea of taking part in the hostilities” refused to be sent to the war in Ukraine.
Breusov appealed the decision in the Pacific Ocean Fleet Court.
Breusov was found guilty under the new entry of the Russian Criminal Court’s article, Mediazona notes that the failure to execute an order was previously entailing a court case only in case of “grave consequences”. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a package of amendments to the Criminal Code relating to military service on 24 September.
On 27 October, head of Russia’s human rights group Agora Pavel Chikov reported that a criminal case had been opened into a failure to execute an order in war time for the first time in Russia.
