A court in Nalchik sentenced a serviceman for leaving his unit without permission.

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The Nalchik Garrison Military Court sentenced Ratmir Zakuev, who was absent from his duty station for approximately a month, to five years in a maximum security penal colony.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot, on September 24, 2022, Parts 2.1, 3.1, and 5 of Article 337, concerning unauthorized abandonment of a unit or place of service during mobilization, were introduced into the Russian Criminal Code. The amendments provide for imprisonment for up to 10 years. Tighter legislation following the announcement of mobilization led to harsher sentences for absence from a military unit or desertion.

The Nalchik Garrison Military Court sentenced serviceman Zakuev, finding him guilty of evading military service during mobilization and repeat offenses, the court's press service reported on his official VKontakte page on December 27.

According to the court, Zakuev voluntarily left his place of service – a temporary deployment point of a military unit – on February 23 of this year. On March 20, he voluntarily reported to the military investigative department stationed in Nalchik.

The soldier admitted his guilt in court, but it was revealed that Zakuev's prison sentence for a premeditated serious crime expired in March 2017, meaning he committed a new crime before the eight-year sentence expired. Furthermore, the court overturned Zakuev's suspended sentence, which had been imposed by a district court before he enlisted in the military. Based on the combined sentences, Zakuev was given a final sentence of five years in a maximum-security penal colony.

The case file on the court's website indicates that Ratmir Zakuev's sentence was handed down on December 26, and his case was submitted for consideration on November 11.

As a reminder, on September 21, 2022, Vladimir Putin announced partial mobilization. On October 28 of that year, the Minister of Defense reported to the President on its completion, but no corresponding decree followed. Lawyers have concluded that a presidential decree is not needed to end partial mobilization, Putin's press secretary explained.

Moreover, on December 12, 2023, the military court in Maykop, in its verdict against a mobilized soldier who left his unit in June 2023, emphasized that "a partial mobilization was declared in the Russian Federation, which was not completed at the time the crime was committed, .".