‘Bloody millions. The price of the subject?’

On the 16^th of February Mother’s Right Foundation, a member of the Russian Research Center for Human Rights, held a press conference at the Independent Press Center of Moscow devoted to the results of the Foundation’s activity ‘Bloody millions. The price of the subject?’ The Chairwoman of the Foundation Veronica Marchenko presented the most recent statistics on the lost soldiers in 2008.

Around 3 000 people die annually in Russian army. The worst districts are Moscow (38%), North Caucasus (27%), Privilzhsko-Uralski (11%), and Far East (11%). Suicides, forced suicides 36%, casualties 22%, hazing 20%, diseases 8%, armed hostilities 7% are among the most common causes of death.

The Mother’s Right Foundation claims that most suicides remain uninvestigated murders. The commanders seek to conceal these facts to avoid criminal responsibility. Other beneficiary is the state, since in case the soldier is considered to be a suicide the relatives lose the right for one-time dowry and survivor pension. Mother’s Right Foundation faces the problem of the officials’ refusal to pay pensions on a regularly basis.

But 2009 was a turning point. The families of the deceased servicemen in South Ossetia received last year 100 000 US dollars in compensation. The families of the injured soldiers were paid out 30 000 US dollars. But the number of the lost servicemen was immediately reduced in the official statics. In August 74 servicemen were considered deceased, and then the number was reduced to 66. In February the Official Secretary of the Deputy Defense Minister General Nicolay Pankov claimed that 64 soldiers were lost. According to the official data presented by the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation only 48 servicemen died there.

New disturbing tendency of the recent years is the commercialization of the army. ‘While investigating criminal cases on servicemen’s death we come across the information on panel games and racket more and more frequently. Sometimes this lead to the death of a soldier, in case he is unable or unwanted to pay on principle (the conscripts do not have money and are forced to ask parents for money)’, Marchenko commented the problem.

In 2008 the lawyers of the Foundation participated in 132 criminal cases in 56 towns of the Russian Federation. Legal aid was rendered to 5 788 families of lost servicemen.

4th series of the book Address to the deceased soldiers’ parents. Lawyers’ advice” containing answers to the most frequent parents’ questions and the best practices were presented at the conference.