First trials over the officers for losses during the attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Belgorod region started

For the first time, a trial will be held in Moscow on a criminal case of violation of the rules of combat duty when repelling a sudden attack on the territory of the Russian Federation (part 2 of Article 340 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), Kommersant writes.

Two high-ranking officers of the Russian army are accused. Their alleged incapacity to prevent the shelling of a part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including an ammunition depot in the Belgorod region, led to the death of seven servicemen and the destruction of 15 pieces of military equipment. Due to the special confidentiality of the case, the process will be conducted behind closed doors, but the summing up and announcement of the court decision may become publicly available.

According to the military prosecutor's office, after the indictment was approved, the case of two officers, Lieutenant Colonel Anatoly Bondarev and Major Dmitry Dmitrakov, was transferred to the 2nd Western District Military Court. They are accused of violating Article 340 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of the rules of combat duty to repel a sudden attack on The Russian Federation with grave consequences). The case is under consideration, but the judge who will conduct the case has not yet been appointed.

The basis for this investigation was the events that happened immediately after the start of the SVO. After extensive publications on social networks, including videos and photos of explosions and fires near the village of Staraya Nelidovka in the Belgorod region, the governor of the region Vyacheslav Gladkov initially confirmed the fire, and then stated that «open gorenje» at the ammunition depot was successfully eliminated. However, there was no destruction of «residential houses and buildings», and according to the chief Chief of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Belgorod region Sergey Potapov, there were no casualties among the civilian population.

15 units of military equipment were destroyed, another 30 were damaged, the total cost of which is estimated at 89 million rubles. This information was provided by the same Western District Military Court, which also became the place where Dmitry Dmitrakov's lawyers appealed against the arrest of his Toyota Corolla car, worth 617,500 rubles, for compensation for damage caused in a criminal case. Subsequently, as part of the investigation, the commander of the unit, Lieutenant Colonel Bondarev, was also included in the list of defendants, who, it seems, failed to provide adequate protection for his unit, including protection from rocket and artillery attacks.

Major Dmitrakov was arrested at the request of the investigation. However, it remains unclear whether his boss has been arrested, at least there has been no information about appealing his arrest, unlike the major. Initially, the investigation was conducted in the Belgorod region, but later it was transferred from the garrison investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation under the management of the Committee for the Western Military District. The major was sent to St. Petersburg, where he was in jail until recently.

As a result, the prosecutor's office supported the conclusions of the investigation that the accused officers committed a violation of the rules of combat duty, which corresponds to article 340 The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for a possible penalty of ten years in prison.

This is especially noticeable in the case of the second part of this article, which is used for the first time in the practice of investigation and court. In the autumn of last year, article 340 was amended, which sets the lower limit of liability for this crime during the period of hostilities for five years (which was previously absent). According to some sources, among other things, a claim was also filed for compensation for the full amount of damage caused.

Representatives of the accused and the military investigation refused to comment on this issue.