“Mobilization has nothing to do with volunteers” – Society – Kommersant Kazan

Former fighters of the Alga volunteer battalion may face up to 10 years in prison for leaving the unit in the special operation zone in Ukraine at the end of the contract. According to one of them, Airat Abdullin, the command refused to sign his resignation letter, which he filed after the four months of service stipulated by the document. He surrendered his weapons and returned home. He is seeking termination of the contract through a military court, which is due to consider his application today. The ICR has already begun a pre-investigation check against him. Criminal cases on the unauthorized abandonment of the unit were initiated against his comrades.

Today, the Kazan Garrison Military Court begins to consider the claim of Airat Abdullin. He participated in the hostilities in Ukraine as part of the Alga volunteer battalion, but after the expiration of his contract he could not get a dismissal, the fighter’s lawyer Lavrenty Sichinava told Kommersant-Kazan. Mr. Abdullin asks the court to oblige the military unit and military enlistment office of Tatarstan to consider his reports.

According to the statement, Mr. Abdullin signed a contract with the military unit for four months, from July 9 to November 9, 2022.

He served in the military in the zone of the special operation of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, the lawsuit says. After the expiration of the contract, the volunteer wrote a report on granting him leave with subsequent dismissal. The document was signed by the company commander and battalion commander. “After handing over the military weapons and completing all the necessary procedures, I became aware that the command of the brigade refused to sign my report without explaining the reasons,” Airat Abdullin reports.

Due to the “uncertain situation”, the volunteer “left the duty station at his own expense” and returned to Kazan. On December 25, he sent a report to the military commissariat of the republic, asking him to “deal with the situation.” In a lawsuit, Airat Abdullin complains that “my appeal has not yet been considered, which is unacceptable.”

The fighter points out that the federal law “On military duty” was violated against him, according to which “a serviceman is subject to dismissal from military service upon the expiration of the term of military service by conscription or the term of the contract.”

He also notes that, due to the fault of the defendants, he is “in an uncertain status”, which does not allow him “to fully exercise his rights, make plans for the future” and “negatively affects” his entire family.

In this regard, Airat Abdullin asks “to recognize the actions of the defendants as illegal, obliging them to eliminate the violations.” He believes that the Tatarstan commissariat should “take measures to consider the report,” and the military unit should issue an order to dismiss him.

Sichinava’s lawyer for Kommersant-Kazan specified that Airat Abdullin is now in the hospital and is undergoing a military medical commission. “He has a lot of diseases found. He has a problem – heel spurs, he practically cannot walk now, ”the lawyer explained.

Mr. Sichinava added that the fighter had already been summoned by the investigating authorities, where Airat Abdullin wrote an explanation why he left the unit.

“An investigation is underway. But cases of unauthorized abandonment of the unit have already been initiated against some, ”the lawyer said.

Part 5 of Article 337 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, introduced on September 24, 2022, provides for “unauthorized abandonment of a unit or place of service, as well as failure to appear on time without good reason for service for more than one month, committed by a military serviceman who is doing military service by conscription or under a contract, during the period of mobilization or martial law, in wartime or in the conditions of an armed conflict or the conduct of hostilities” punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of five to ten years.

Mr. Sichinava noted that, in addition to Mr. Abdullin, two more volunteers turned to him for legal assistance, whose contracts had expired.

It was not possible to get a comment from the military registration and enlistment office of Tatarstan “Kommersant-Kazan” yesterday. Sergey Kotin, head of the Tatvoenkomat’s department for work with citizens, said that he was “not aware” of the department’s position on this lawsuit, suggesting contacting the legal department of the commissariat, but they did not answer Kommersant’s calls. Earlier, Realnoe Vremya was informed at the military registration and enlistment office that “according to federal law, when mobilization or partial mobilization is announced, the dismissal of servicemen under the contract is provided for in three cases: by age, for health reasons in accordance with the conclusion of the military medical commission and upon initiation in criminal case against him.” Thus, according to the commissariat, dismissal after the expiration of the contract during mobilization is not provided.

Lavrenty Sichinava believes that the contract of volunteers “cannot be open-ended.” He recalled that in November 2022, an article on volunteer formations appeared in the federal law “On Defense”, according to which a citizen of the Russian Federation “is subject to exclusion” from such a detachment “due to the expiration of the contract.”

“Partial mobilization has nothing to do with volunteers. When there was a presidential decree on partial mobilization, they had already been there for two months,” said Mr. Sichinava. According to him, the contract is “an agreement that cannot be extended without the agreement of the two parties.” “Did anyone inform Abdullina that his contract was being extended? At least he should have been given a written refusal indicating the grounds why dismissal is impossible, ”the lawyer emphasized.

At the beginning of this week, the state agency Tatar-inform circulated a statement by the commander of the Alga battalion (his name was not disclosed), where he confirms that there are “people who have left their positions.” The commander calls them “traitors”, who “not having full control of the situation, in order to justify their desertion, spread various types of negative rumors, panic moods.” “I can say that the soldiers of my battalion with the dignity and honor of real men and defenders of their Fatherland are fulfilling their duty, they do not refuse the choice they have made,” the commander notes.

Kirill Antonov