19:45, 22 April 2025

Defendants in two resonant cases in Rostov Region decide to go to SMO

An empty prison cell. Screenshot of a photo https://avatars.mds.yandex.net/i?id=51db3b7814c2c65d41fdc794d5c979ed_l-4033947-images-thumbs&n=13

Three of the defendants in the case on the shootout between Chechen farmers in the Chernozubov farm yard have already left for the special military operation (SMO), and Anastasia Potorochina, a former psychiatrist of the Rostov tuberculosis hospital of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (known as FSIN) wrote a letter asking for permission to conclude a military contract.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in January 2024, in Rostov-on-Don, a court sentenced Alexander Lyakh, the former deputy chief of the FSIN tuberculosis hospital, to seven years and six months of imprisonment, finding him guilty of organizing the torture of patients. Daria Pozdnyakova, the head of the psychiatric department, was sentenced to six years, and psychiatrist Anastasia Potorochina – to five years of imprisonment.

By December 2020, 21 convicts had complained about unacceptable conditions of detention in the prison hospital.

Anastasia Potorochina, the former hospital psychiatrist, has written a letter asking for permission to be sent to the special military operation (SMO), the “161.ru” portal reported with reference to its source.

Three of the defendants in the case on the shootout in the Chernozubov farm yard have already signed a military contract with the Russian Ministry of Defence, the “Donday” publication reports.

Those arrested, with the exception of those involved in cases on high treason, terrorism, extremism, and fakes about the Russian Army, have the opportunity to sign a military contract with the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) and end up in the special military operation (SMO) zone, and the criminal proceedings against them are to be immediately terminated in such a case. This has already led to the creation of a “conveyor of impunity,” human rights defenders claim. “A person can commit a crime, sign a military contract with the Ministry of Defence, serve some time in the SMO zone, return from there, and start over again,” a lawyer said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 20, 2025 at 10:18 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: Caucasian Knot