Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Another open-air dungeon used by the Russian army to imprison its own soldiers has been exposed in the occupied Donetsk region. According to a commander, "every unit has one." Although they're illegal, he says "nobody gives a shit, statutes and laws don't apply here." ⬇️

3/ ASTRA has interviewed a Russian commander who is opposed to the use of zindans and has apparently filmed one in the village of Olenivka, south of Donetsk city. He says the zindan is being used to imprison those found guilty of petty offences.

4/ "[They get] a minimum three days of imprisonment and a fine: 25-30 thousand rubles for every day of imprisonment [$293-352]. They use it mainly for drunkenness, for leaving their positions and going to the shops, to the countryside, to visit neighbouring positions.

5/ "Or just if the bosses don't have a good look in their eyes. This is the second time I've seen a pit. The first one, as I heard, was closed by the prosecutor's office. But now a new one has been dug in a secret place where no one is allowed.

6/ "The regiment commander knows about it, and the battalion commander is in charge of it. Soldiers and officers alike are sitting in the pit. They are simply beaten and thrown into it. There's a dirt floor there. You sleep on rags. The prisoners may not be fed or watered."

7/ As the commander notes, there are statutory punishments available for such offences, which do not include being thrown into a pit. The fines being levied appear to be simply a means of enriching battalion commanders.

8/ The men have electronic payment cards, which they use to access their salaries. According to the commander, the prisoners "make a transfer to a stand-in and he goes and withdraws the cash. Or they give it right away in cash."

9/ "They always write a receipt saying that they allegedly borrowed the same amount from someone, who is always the same fake person, until such and such a date. In the end the money goes into the pocket of the battalion commander."

10/ The commander says that the pits are common knowledge: "Everybody knows about them. Everybody shares them with everybody. Battalion commanders and their deputies, regimental commanders. I think the higher-ups know, too.

11/ "No one's hiding anything about the pits, as well as the scale of the extortion. If all the regimental commanders were to be investigated, up to the deputies of the battalion commander, then these pits would stop.

12/ But in the meantime there is no point in complaining to the higher authority."

Relatives have complained many times about their menfolk being thrown into zindans, but this seems to have been largely ignored by the army.

13/ The commander is opposed to the use of zindans and says he won't send any of his men there, even if they "screw up". He says his own men are willing to fight, but are mostly "chronically ill, alcoholics, herb smokers."

14/ "It's a misconception that the mobilised are charged-up Rambos. The average age is around 35, all of them are civilians. The majority are from villages. Shift workers mostly. Not even a lot of hunters, thanks to Russian gun laws."

15/ None of his men have refused to fight, he says, because "you can be shot by your own people" if you do refuse. Imprisonment in a pit is "divine" in comparison. /end

Source:
telegra.ph/ASTRA-nashla-e…