Russian servicemen who got out of prison in the Lugansk region and were forced to return to the front turned to the Investigative Committee. This was announced by the head of the human rights group "Agora" Pavel Chikov.
According to the lawyer, the military claims that approximately 140 people were illegally deprived of their liberty and held in various places in the Luhansk region. Chikov clarified that no documents confirming the lawfulness of the deprivation of liberty were drawn up, and no charges were brought.
The servicemen are asking to conduct an audit and prosecute the guilty commanders for abuse of power.
Lawyer Maxim Grebenyuk, who will represent the interests of the military, published screenshots of statements and said that there is now a list of 70 military held in the Luhansk region. He also said that there are 140 in total.
On July 26, it became known that the Russian military, who refused to fight in Ukraine, was being held in custody in Bryanka, Luhansk region, beaten and forced to return to the front. The fighters of the Wagner PMC and representatives of the RF Ministry of Defense Colonel Nechiporenko and Lieutenant Colonel Tumanov “break” people. This was told to The Insider by several military men who managed to get out of prison.
The Russian military leadership denies any involvement in what is happening in Bryanka, stating that the contract soldiers are being held by the Lugansk military.
At least 130 people are kept in the "special center", people continue to be taken back to the front and new ones are brought in. The Insider published information about 17 of them. The father of one of the contract soldiers, who are actually being held in custody, told The Insider that after three months of service, Russian contract soldiers were promised vacations and the opportunity to refuse to participate in hostilities. When they wrote refusals, they were detained and taken to the same Bryanka in the Lugansk region. They have been in custody for over a month now.
On July 31, another soldier who managed to get out of prison told The Insider that he and his colleagues were kept for a week in a military unit in Bryanka. After that, they were taken away in an unknown direction and put in the basement. According to him, unknown people, presumably military men from the Wagner PMC, beat them with batons and forced them to return to the front.
After two days in this basement, five of the six soldiers who were beaten and subjected to psychological pressure agreed to return to the front. One refused, he was left in the basement, his further fate is still unknown.