Men in six Russian regions say they were detained and forced to sign military contracts
The Get Lost project received 14 complaints between August 10 and 18 from men who said they were detained and forced to sign contracts with Russia’s Defense Ministry. The complaints came from Izhevsk, Novorossiysk, Omsk, the Arkhangelsk region, Birobidzhan, and Ulan-Ude.
In Novorossiysk, the sister of one detained man said police took her brother to a station, beat him, and planted drugs on him, then gave him a choice: face a criminal case or sign the contract. Human rights activists said he signed it.
In Omsk, one man was detained straight from work and held. His relatives said a contract was signed on his behalf. In a separate case, men in plain clothes stopped another man near a store, claiming they needed to check him for drugs, then put him in a car and drove him to a medical exam. He told relatives he had not signed anything, but he was taken out of Omsk to an unspecified location.
In the Arkhangelsk region, police detained a man for drinking in a prohibited public place, and by morning, his relatives said, he had already signed a contract.
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