Kamchatka man sentenced to nearly two years in open prison for refusing to go to war

A military court in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the capital of Russia’s Kamchatka Krai, has sentenced a soldier named Alexey Breusov to a year and eight months in an open prison after finding him guilty of failing to carry out an order during wartime and refusing to participate in combat.

According to case materials published online, on October 6, Breusov, “[being] aware of the mobilization declared in Russia, and not wanting to participate in military activities, refused to take part in military activities, i.e. [refused] to depart for the special military operation zone in accordance with the orders of his military unit’s commander,” the court’s press service told the local news outlet Kam 24.

Breusov has filed an appeal.

On the day before Putin declared mobilization, the Russian State Duma adopted a number of amendments to the country’s Criminal Code that increased punishments for crimes committed “during the period of mobilization or martial law during wartime.” Among other things, the amendments affected the law against failing to carry out orders, which previously only applied when the violation brought “grave consequences.”