|
Thursday, 30.08.2007
Scandal: elite space troop soldier beaten to death by officers
Plessezk. The commander of the Russian space centre Plessezk and other officers of the elite troop have been relieved of their posts after being found partly responsible for the death of a young soldier brutally beaten by officers.
|
|
According to Russian press reports, General Major Konstanton Chmarov, acting commander of the space centre in North Russia, and a battalion commander were discharged. The captain and lieutenant who beat the soldier are both facing up to 15 years in jail for premeditated grievous bodily harm leading to death.
The recruit Sergei Sinkonen two other soldiers were in barracks on the night of 14th August, when they met the captain and lieutenant returning drunk from a wedding.
|
The officers beat Sinkonen unconscious and then dragged him into dogs’ kennels, where he was found the next morning. Despite doctors’ efforts, Sinkonen did not come out of his coma and died the following Monday.
|
During the prosecutor’s investigations, the lieutenant was arrested, and the captain interned in a psychiatric clinic.
|
The law of the strong. Brutality towards recruits is one of the Russian military’s main problems.
|
Brutalising of recruits in one of the Russian army’s main problems. In the army, much the same law of the strong applies as among prisoners in labour camps. Several thousand recruits fall victim to acts of violence every year, according to figures of the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers. In the early `90s, the figure was as high as 7,000 deaths.
|
The long-serving commander of Plessezk, General Lieutenant Anatoly Bashlakov managed to avoid all responsibility for the incident: Just before the scandal broke, he was promoted to head of the military department for education.
(mig/.rufo/Moskau)
|
|
