Tied Up and Thrown into a Sewer: Mobilized Individual Shares Experience After Refusing Service

Mobilized individuals have recounted experiences of beatings, being buried alive, and mock executions during interactions with journalists. 25-year-old Roman Martynov was mobilized from the Bryansk region on September 24. At the assembly point, he underwent a single class on automatic fire, after which he was sent to the front lines in Luhansk on October 1.

According to Pavel Chikov, head of the Agora International Human Rights Group, Martynov refused to participate in combat the following day and found himself in "basements designated for refusers," effectively imprisoned.

"One person was beating me with two fists, and the assailant was wearing tactical gloves. The blows were hitting my head and body; the man delivered at least three punches to the left side of my head and at least three hits to the left side of my body," he recounted.

Martynov claimed that he was made to face the wall while being threatened with gunfire, and was thrown into a sewer with his eyes and hands tied. "The sewer was narrow, empty, without water, and about 1.5 meters deep. I wasn't allowed to straighten up; I curled up at the bottom of the sewer, and armed men told me that if I didn't tell the truth, they would bury me alive. To reinforce their threats, they started throwing dirt into the sewer immediately," Martynov explained.

On Tuesday, the soldier's lawyer, Maxim Grebenyuk from the Military Ombudsman project, filed a complaint regarding the crime addressed to the head of the Russian Investigative Committee's Main Directorate for Military Intelligence.