Relatives of contract soldier from Volgograd call to investigate his death

Relatives of a Volgograd resident who perished in the special military operation (SMO) zone in Ukraine have received conflicting certificates about the cause of his death and demand an inquiry.

The parents of the 34-year-old Anton have reported that at first they were given a death certificate, which indicated that he had died from a gunshot wound; and then they learned about the second certificate for the military commissariat (registration and enlistment office), which states that Anton had committed suicide. On the day of the funeral, his mother opened the zinc coffin to find out how her son died, and saw traces of beatings, the "V1.ru" outlet reports.

On February 8, relatives received a call from the military man who was accompanying the bodies. "I asked him to look into the documents and tell me the cause of Anton's death. He said that they stated that he 'had perished.' Later, we accidentally saw the second certificate on Anton. The first one said 'perished,' while the other said 'suicide'," the outlet quotes Ekaterina, Anton's ex-wife as saying. According to her story, the "official" document indicates the date of his death as December 15. "And the document with 'suicide' states December 20. How is that? That is, he first perished and then committed suicide?" Ekaterina is bewildered.

Relatives do not believe that Anton could commit suicide; so his mother opened the coffin with her son's body. "It was horror. He is all black, no eyes, his nose is broken ... I am sure that my son could not commit suicide. And judging by the injuries on his body, he was severely beaten," the mother has stated.