Not Only Veterans Invoking War in Ukraine to Get Reduced Sentences and Legal Relief, ‘Vyorstka’ Reports

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Feb. 14 – Russians who have returned from fighting in Ukraine routinely invoke their participation in the conflict as a reason their sentences should be reduced or suspended altogether, a major problem given that “almost 500” veterans have been charged with serious crimes since 2022, according to the Vyorstka news agency.
    But veterans aren’t the only one seeking to use the war in this way, Yuly Balakhonova, a Vyorstka journalist says, although their success in doing so has received the most media coverage and generated the most popular concern and even anger (verstka.media/svo-kak-argument-v-sudach).
    Among others who have sought often but not always with success to invoke the war are:
•    Relatives of veterans who point to the way that the war has affected them too;
•    Those who have helped gather aid for soldiers;
•    Russians who have had difficulty finding a job or who have seen their incomes reduced because of the war;
•    Companies that had had difficulty meeting their contractual commitments;
•    The Ministry of Defense itself which has had to stop doing some things because of the war;
•    And even people who have been unable to bury relatives because of difficulties in the Russian funerary industry which have intensified since the conflict began.
This report throws into high relief not only the creativity of Russian lawyers and the willingness of the courts to take the war into consideration in sentencing but also yet another way that the impact of those returning from the war will only grow as many more are likely to do so in the future.