A resident of Sochi has been convicted of desecrating a military memorial.

The court sentenced a resident of Sochi to forced labor, finding her guilty of desecrating a memorial to participants of the Great Patriotic War. The woman's companion avoided punishment by signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", in late August, a criminal case was initiated against a resident of Sochi who, according to investigators, urinated on the memorial to tankers who died in the Great Patriotic War in the Khosta district. In September, the case of the 46-year-old woman was sent to court.

The court in Sochi found the 46-year-old local resident guilty of desecrating memorial structures, the Investigative Committee for the Krasnodar Territory reported today on its Telegram channel.

"The convicted woman was sentenced to forced labor for a period of 1 year and 6 months, with 10% of her salary withheld for the state. The sentenced individual is to serve the imposed punishment in a correctional center," the publication states.

The court concluded that the woman and her 48-year-old acquaintance, "being in a state of alcohol intoxication," near the monument to those who died in the Great Patriotic War, "committed unlawful actions, thereby desecrating it," the agency noted.

"The criminal case against the 48-year-old man, accused of committing a crime under subparagraphs 'a, b' of part 2 of Article 243.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (desecration of memorial structures) was separated into a separate proceeding and suspended due to his signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and departure to the zone of the special military operation," the message states.

Sending to the zone of the special military operation allows defendants to avoid punishment

It should be noted that those arrested, except for those involved in cases of treason, terrorism, extremism, and fake news about the army, have the opportunity to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense and find themselves in the military operation zone, and their criminal prosecution is immediately halted.

Serve some time in the special military operation zone, return - and repeat

This has already led to the creation of a "conveyor of impunity," human rights defenders interviewed by "Caucasian Knot" stated. "One can commit a crime, sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, serve some time in the special military operation zone, return - and repeat," said, in particular, Maxim Vedaprav.

Several police officers accused in the case of the death of the detained Makhachkala resident Kurban Dalgatov, who was beaten in the police department in January 2023 and died in the hospital, have taken advantage of the opportunity to go to the special military operation zone. By January 2026, most of the 11 accused had not yet been sentenced, while five of them went to the special military operation.