Man mobilized from KBR challenges his sentence for evading service

The defence has appealed against the sentence passed to Islam Margushev, who was mobilized from the Zolsky District (the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic – KBR), and sentenced to five years of freedom deprivation on charges of evading service.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 14, the Novorossiysk Military Court sentenced Alexander Zhuravel to five years and two months in colony, finding him guilty of leaving his military unit without permission. The court has treated his arguments about his mother's illness as unconvincing.

The Nalchik Garrison Military Court has found the 24-year-old Islam Margushev guilty of evading service and sentenced him to five years in colony, the "Gazeta Yuga" (Southern Newspaper) outlet has reported.

Islam Margushev was mobilized on September 26, 2022, and served in Ingushetia. On December 13, he failed to show up for performing his duty; and later explained in court that he decided to stay at home in the village of Kamennomostskoye, Zolsky District, "because he wanted to relax and spend time with his mother."

On April 16, 2023, an officer from the unit, where Margushev had served, went to his residence, where he found Islam. His mother stated that her son told her about the leave he was granted after treatment at hospital due to his stomach ulcer.

The court took into account that the man was raised without a father in a large family; he had not been prosecuted before, was characterized positively and took part in the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine from October to November 2022.

On September 18, it became known that a court in Rostov-on-Don had upheld the sentence of pregnant servicewoman Madina Kabaloeva from Kabardino-Balkaria for failure to appear for duty. The court sentenced her to six years in prison, by deferring the enforcement of the verdict until 2032.