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1/ The Russian Army is holding public show trials of soldiers accused of refusing to fight in Ukraine. Soldiers in Vladikavkaz and Yekaterinburg have been given lengthy sentences after being tried in front of their comrades by military courts. ⬇️ 
2/ The ASTRA and VChK-OGPU Telegram channels report that garrison courts in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia and Yekaterinburg in the Urals have held show trials for three soldiers who have been accused of offences relating to unauthorised absence from service.
3/ The first trial to be reported was that of Artem Kopyl, who was tried at Vladikavkaz on 14 May for unauthorised absence from his place of service and failure to report for duty during mobilisation without a valid reason. He was sentenced to six years in a penal colony.
4/ A second show trial is reported to have taken place at Yekaterinburg on 19 May. A soldier from a unit based in Tyumen in Siberia was sentenced to 6 years' imprisonment.
5/ According to the court's press service, "after the verdict was announced by the presiding judge in the case, an explanatory conversation was held with the personnel of the military unit on the topic of responsibility for unauthorised abandonment of the place of service."
6/ In the third case, a contract soldier named as Dzagoev was sentenced at Vladikavkaz on 24 May to five and a half years in a penal colony for failure to report for duty during the mobilisation period. Like Kopyl, he was tried and sentenced in public in the officer's mess.
7/ It's unclear whether this practice – which recalls the show trials of the 1930s during the Stalin era – is a local initiative or has been mandated by the army's senior leadership. However, it's clearly meant to send a message that refusing to fight won't be tolerated. /end
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