Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Russia's Southern Military District is witnessing an explosion of murders committed by serving soldiers. Cases have increased at a rate that is unprecedented in recent years, up by more than 2,400 per cent in a single year. It's a direct result of the war in Ukraine. ⬇️

2/ Kavkaz.Realii reports that there has been a huge increase in murder cases being heard by the military courts in Rostov and Novocherkassk. In Rostov, the court heard two murder cases in 2015, one in 2018, two in 2021, one in 2022 and 42 by October 2023.

3/ Similarly, in Novocherkassk there was one case in 2012, one in 2014, two in 2015, one in 2022, and 34 since the beginning of 2023.

Interestingly, this surge of murder cases has not been replicated elsewhere.

4/ The three Stavropol Territory military courts have only heard five murder cases in 12 years, the last in 2021. The Volgograd court has heard eight cases since 2011, the last in 2022.

5/ Cases of grievous bodily harm have also increased sharply: in Novocherkassk, they are up from one case in each of 2020 and 2021 to 19 since the beginnning of 2023, and in Rostov 28 such cases thus far in 2023.

6/ A lawyer says that this is is partly the result of an increase in violence in Russian regions adjoining Ukraine, and partly due to how military jurisdiction has operated in the occupied regions.

7/ "The jurisdiction was as follows: all the crimes committed in the "Luhansk People's Republic" were heard in Novocherkassk, and in the "Donetsk People's Republic" and Zaporizhzhia region, in Rostov. Cases from Kherson Region were considered by military courts in Sevastopol."

8/ This will change from this month, due to the creation of new garrison courts in the occupied territories. From now on, Russian soldiers committing murders in Ukraine will be tried in the four newly annexed regions.

9/ Most of the murders were committed in Ukraine. The cases relate to military personnel, not mercenaries, who are tried as civilians. According to the lawyer, the murders were generally committed by soldiers on leave or recovering from injuries.

10/ He comments: "TV propaganda promotes the image of "heroes", but when they return to society, they sometimes face a completely different attitude [from civilians], which leads to aggression."

11/ "At the same time, the fighters believe that they can "redeem with blood" any of their actions – for a year and a half they were convinced of this by the example of PMC Wagner, so they do not think about the consequences.

12/ "And what they experienced on the front line, dirt and death, the risk of dying at any moment, changes the attitude both to life and to those remaining in the rear."

13/ Experts say that this is the result of Russia lacking the means to re-socialise those returning from the front. Professor Mikhail Savva at the Centre for Civil Liberties in Kyiv says that it shows that the Russian "system of power clearly cannot withstand the stress of war."

14/ "At the moment, the main damage is being done to the Russian military machine itself, as most of the crimes so far have been committed inside military units, and violence is used against fellow soldiers – both those of equal rank and commanders."

15/ The Kuban Anti-War Committee says that Russia does not have a well-established system of psychological help for people with post-traumatic disorders. Russian soldiers have had particularly traumatic experiences, facing frequent bombardment and lacking supplies.

16/ Soldiers' often brutal treatment by their own officers is another major cause of trauma, according to the anti-war group Go To The Forest.

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1607085505291898882

17/ "Applicants have told much about violence on the part of higher officers, the practice of putting them in 'cellars' and 'pits' for disobeying orders and refusing to go to the front line.

18/ "This gave rise to retaliatory violence on the part of servicemen. According to accounts, drunkenness and cruelty reign in the units on the front line, and deserters talk about it."

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1709182299399467478

19/ Soldiers carry such violent habits back to their towns and cities, becoming a threat to ordinary citizens.

A representative of the Kuban Anti-War Committee says that soldiers returning from the front feel "abandoned" when they are not greeted with "honours".

20/ "There is no respect in society, no recognition of their 'merits'. They went to the territory of a foreign country under brave slogans about protecting peaceful people, who are now in no hurry thank them. This gives rise to anger, which spills out."

21/ "Such fighters are already waste material for the state – they will be needed again on the front line, but not in peaceful life.

The representative predicts a much greater explosion of violent crime when the soldiers are eventually demobilised.

22/ "Now we are only talking about crimes committed by active servicemen: during mobilisation it is practically impossible to leave the army – in time it will be the time of those who were demobilised and abandoned by the state to their fate." /end

Source:
kavkazr.com/a/perenosyat-v…