Nurse from Horlivka sentenced to five tears for absence without leave from the Russian army

Darya Bezruchko, a nurse from the Russian-occupied part of Donetsk region, was sentenced on 24 April to five years in a general-regime penal colony for unauthorised absence from a military unit. According to available information, she was mobilised into the Russian army before obtaining Russian citizenship. The case was reported by Citizens’ Watch and SOTAvision.

The sentence was handed down by the Moscow Garrison Military Court. Darya Bezruchko was found guilty of leaving a military unit or failing to report for duty for a period exceeding one month during mobilisation, under Part 5 of Article 337 of the Russian Criminal Code.

Darya Bezruchko, a 34-year-old resident of Horlivka, holds a military occupational qualification in nursing. According to her lawyer, the case file contains no contract between her and the Russian army, meaning she could only have been mobilised. An extract from a commander’s order included in the case materials — believed to relate to her assignment to a military unit — is dated 1 January 2023, while Darya Bezruchko did not obtain Russian citizenship until 13 March 2023.

In her closing statement, Darya Bezruchko told the court: ‘I am not guilty. They tricked me into going there. I did not know where I was going.’

Her lawyer sought an adjournment pending consideration of a claim against the Russian Ministry of Defence and Military Unit 34492, seeking to have Darya Bezruchko’s mobilisation declared unlawful. The request was refused. On 4 May, after the sentence had already been handed down, the claim was also dismissed.

Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, residents of occupied territory may not be compelled to serve in the armed forces of an occupying power. Article 51 of the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War further provides that even ‘pressure or propaganda aimed at securing voluntary enlistment is prohibited’.