DN has previously reported on brutal prisoners fighting in Ukraine. One man murdered his 87-year-old relative, another beat his wife so badly that she ended up in hospital, while a third beat a judge to death with a dumbbell.
After returning home to Russia, ex-prisoners have terrorized those around them and are suspected of new serious crimes such as murder, sexual offenses and assault.
Now have independence Russian news outlet Vertska reviewed media records and legal documents and concluded that 107 people died and 100 were injured due to crimes committed by soldiers after returning home, during the more than two years of the full-scale invasion.
The soldiers have committed 84 violent crimes, of which 55 (resulting in a total of 76 deaths) led to murder charges. In 18 of the cases, the crimes were categorized as “acts that caused serious bodily harm”. In addition to this, the soldiers have killed 11 people through traffic violations and 2 through drug-related crimes.
Photo: Dmitry Serebryakov/AP
Regarding the 100 injured, 16 of the cases were prosecuted as murder and 70 as “acts causing serious bodily harm”. In addition, the soldiers injured 10 people through traffic accidents, 3 through “excessive self-defense” and 1 through “negligence.”
The majority of the soldiers had been recruited from prisons and granted amnesty after serving in Ukraine. The rest were regular soldiers or voluntary contract soldiers.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion is said to have recruited thousands of Russian prisoners into the war in Ukraine. Just over a year ago, an estimated 50,000 inmates had been recruited to the Wagner group, which now falls under the Russian Ministry of Defense.
But more recently, soldiers have testified that Russia has stopped pardoning prisoners. Previously, they were allowed to go home after six months in Ukraine – now they have to stay until the war is over.
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