Military investigative unit for Russia’s Vladimir garrison has opened a criminal case after conscript Sergey Gridin committed suicide, Gridin’s sister Valeria told Novaya Gazeta Europe citing the lawyer.
According to her, the investigation is looking into a suicide encouragement charge. The agency did not respond to Novaya-Europe’s request to comment.
Earlier, Sergey Gridin, a conscript from Russia’s Komi, took his own life at a military base. The man left a suicide note where he said that he had been “put on the Ukraine rotation list”. “I have made a decision: I will die on my own land without foreign blood on my hands,” he wrote.
According to Gridin’s sister, “he was planning to leave the army on medical grounds”.
“He was diagnosed with retinal abiotrophy in Moscow, a rare degenerative hereditary condition that affects the eye retina. My aunt and dad mailed him the original document for a checkup. At the base, he received a treatment of injections and pills. And then the original checkup documents disappeared somewhere,” Valeria said.
Gridin served at military base №11361 in the Moscow region. In December 2022, he was moved to base №11361-4 in the Vladimir region.
In late October 2022, the Russian General Staff pledged that autumn conscripts would not be sent to the Ukraine war or the recently occupied regions. At the same time, conscripts legally can sign a contract to serve in the regular army after three months of training.
