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- A Russian courtroom sentenced a soldier after he confessed to killing a civilian in Ukraine.
- It appears the case was nothing to do with whether or not he killed anyone — however that he talked about it.
- Daniil Frolkin was tried under Russia’s “fake news” legislation, which outlaws claiming that Russia is committing atrocities.
A Russian courtroom convicted a soldier who admitted killing a civilian in Ukraine — not for any battle crime, however for breaking its “fake news” legislation, in accordance with native reviews.
Daniil Frolkin was given a suspended sentence in a army courtroom in Khabarovsk, in japanese Russia, in accordance with the information website Siberia.Realities, an affiliate of Radio Free Europe.
Last August, Frolkin gave an interview to a different information website, Important Stories, the place he confessed to the killing of a Ukrainian civilian in the village of Andriivka, west of Kyiv.
Andriivka was under Russian management between late February-April 2022, in accordance with Important Stories. At least 40 people in the village have been killed there, the BBC reported.
In June, Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General announced Frolkin was suspected of killing a civilian there — one thing that Frolkin initially denied.
But two hours after first speaking to Important Stories, he returned with a confession, and denounced his commanders. He told the outlet he was ordered to “dispose of” a civilian, which he said he did.
“I, a serviceman of military unit No 51460, Guards Yefreytor Daniil Frolkin, confess to all the crimes I have committed in Andriivka, to shooting civilians, robbing civilians, seizing their phones and the fact that our command doesn’t give a fuck about our fighters, the infantry fighting on the frontline,” he said, in a press release he requested the reporter to file.
Describing the act, Frolkin told the outlet: “I tell him, ‘Step forward.’ He steps forward. I say, ‘Get on your knees.'” He then described capturing the person in the top.
The outlet recognized the alleged sufferer as probably being 47-year-old Ruslan Yaremchuk.
Frolkin had left the armed forces as of the article’s publication, in accordance with Siberia.Realities.
In December last year, Russian authorities opened a case against him — not for killing anyone, however on “fake news” charges, looking for six years in jail, as Siberia.Realities reported.
His suspended sentence, handed down this week, places him under 5 and a half years of probation and bars him from holding government jobs for 2 years, the outlet reported.
President Vladimir Putin has imposed strict controls on dialogue of the battle in Ukraine — which in Russia, should be described as a “special military operation.”
It outlaws contradicting the Kremlin’s official model of occasions in the battle — in which Russia commits no atrocities and stringently avoids harming civilians.
As of March last year, the legislation threatened imprisonment of as much as 15 years and fines of as much as 5 million rubles ($45,000) for anybody who shares “false information” that “discredits” the armed forces.
Putin gave Frolkin’s unit an honorary title of “guards” in April last year for heroism and braveness, Siberia.Realities reported.
