On 29 January, 300 demonstrators gathered outside the Russian Defence Ministry in Moscow to show their anger after a group of drunken servicemen was torturing a 19-year-old soldier for several hours . The proceedings have been instituted against Major General Aleksey Sidorov, the head of the Chelyabinsk Tank Training College. (02-FEB-06).

On the New Year eve a group of drunken old-timers has brutally beaten eight of 40 soldiers staying in the barracks. After the assaulters have beaten private Andrey Sychev he was left motionless and he was being gang-raped for several hours. As a result, the victim suffered from the compression of legs and genital tissues, which subsequently led to the development of gangrenous inflammation. Sychev was complaining of pain in the legs during the next three days but he was not given the appropriate medical treatment and was hospitalized only on the 4th of January when he couldn’t move and go out of the barracks. Doctors had to amputate the soldier´s legs, genitals and a finger. Now Andrey Sychev is still in severe condition.

The case of Andrey Sychev became known due to the Soldiers Mothers
9 January, only after Sychev had already undergone his first amputation of genitals, a doctor phoned to the regional branch of the Union of Soldiers Mothers Committees and informed them about the badly injured soldier Sychev. The doctor didn’t give his name as he was strictly told not to make known the case. Soldiers Mothers appealed to the Military Office of Public Prosecutor in Chelyabinsk region and phoned Sychev´s mother Galina who knew nothing of the incident. She asked not to hide the facts of the tragedy and Soldiers Mothers called journalists who made out a report which was broadcast over the regional TV-channel. “The regional investigators tried to keep the tragedy from public and due to the efforts of Soldiers Mothers the case was brought into the Chief Military Prosecutor Office”, said the head of the Union of Soldiers Mothers Committees of the Russian Federation, Valentina Melnikova.

Investigation into the fact of “dedovshina” has been launched
“Dedovshina” is abuse of young conscripts by old-timers in the army. Six suspects, two of them officers, have been arrested so far. The proceedings have been instituted against Major General Aleksey Sidorov, the head of the Chelyabinsk Tank Training College. According to unofficial sources at interrogation in the Office of Public Prosecutor all the witnesses in the barrack claimed that Andrey Sychev had been tightly tied to a chair and kicked in his legs only two times, but doctors have refuted these statements.

Pickets against “dedovshina” in Russian army
picket29 January about 300 demonstrators have gathered outside the Russian Defence Ministry in Moscow to show their anger towards the bullying incident. Protesters expressed their support for conscripts, who often become subjects of brutal abuse by their elders in Russian army. The demonstrators did not have the required permission for the protest and policemen stood by and didn’t allow the demonstrators to show their posters. A few dozen of people held a similar demonstration in Ekaterinburg, the capital of the home region of the victim Andrey Sychev.

 “Dedovshina” is widespread in Russian army
According to the Union of Soldiers Mothers Committees “dedovshina” is rampant in the Russian army. The case of Valentina Melnikova Andrey Sychev is one of the 10 thousand cases of “dedovshina” (more than 2 thousand from them with lethal outcome) that happen every year but most of them stayed unknown to the public because the information is being hidden and the military authorities intimidate mothers and doctors into keeping silence. Usually military officials justify vicious bullying, on the pretext that it is a mean to maintain discipline. Valentina Melnikova said that Sergey Ivanov had claimed that he didn’t know what had happened and “In our opinion, Minister of Defence who doesn’t know what is happening among his subordinates is unqualified and mustn’t occupy this post”. Instead of cardinal reforming of the Russian military system, which has become the place of converting conscripts into disabled persons and where to parents are afraid to send their suns, Ivanov wants to increase the call-up and blames Soldiers Mothers for breakdown of the Russian army.