Hazing trial exposes dark side of Russia's military

  Hazing trial exposes dark side of Russia's military 
By Steven Lee Myers The New York Times

Published: August 13, 2006


CHELYABINSK, Russia It is becoming clear now what happened New Year's Day in the barracks of the Chelyabinsk Tank Academy, when the Russian military's singular means of enforcing discipline claimed its most famous victim.

The details are trickling out in a windowless courtroom here in a trial that has illustrated the darkest aspects of Russian military service and exposed the commanders' refusal to address them, despite public pledges to the contrary.

A sergeant, possibly drunk, meted out punishment to a younger soldier, Pvt. Andrei S. Sychyov, who, like him, was a draftee. Rousted from bed at 3 a.m., Private Sychyov was forced to squat for three and a half hours. When he complained, as the pain worsened, the sergeant stomped on his ankle twice.

The episode might have ended there, an unremarkable instance of an abusive system of discipline known as dedovshchina, or the rule of the grandfathers. But Private Sychyov suffered injuries that resulted in infection, then in the amputation of his legs and genitals and finally in a public scandal.

Private Sychyov's fate forced initially dismissive leaders, including the minister of defense, Sergei B. Ivanov, to respond to the furor. They vowed to punish those responsible and to crack down on such abuse.

The trial, however, has cast doubt on the military's prosecution and showed how deeply rooted dedovshchina (pronounced de-DOV-she-na) remains in Russia's barracks, still largely filled with conscripts despite overwhelming opposition to the draft.

The prosecution's case against the sergeant, who is charged only with exceeding his authority, appears to be faltering.

One witness who testified against the sergeant recanted and stopped appearing in court. Others have reversed statements to investigators that they had seen or heard what happened. Witnesses revealed in court that an army general had told three soldiers not to testify at the trial, though they defied him and testified anyway.

Private Sychyov's mother, Galina, said she had received repeated offers from an unknown official with free access to the grounds of a military hospital to drop the case in exchange for an apartment and $100,000. The official stopped, said her daughter, Marina A. Muffert, only after the family complained publicly.

Spokesmen for the Ministry of Defense and the military prosecutor declined to discuss the accusations of bribery and the general's attempt to pressure witnesses, though the new military prosecutor, Sergei N. Fridinsky, has vowed to investigate.

The chief military prosecutor, Aleksandr N. Savenkov, had called it the most "cynical and audacious crime" he had seen in his career, but he was replaced last month in a shake-up of the Prosecutor General's Office. His successor boasted on Aug. 4 that incidents of dedovshchina had declined, contradicting statistics provided the same day by his boss, the new prosecutor general, Yuri Y. Chaika.

Ms. Muffert, who attends the trial every day, traveling from her home in Yekaterinburg, 120 miles north of here, said the military was deliberately undermining the prosecution, even as senior leaders cited the trial as evidence that they were serious about punishing abuse.

"I would like to believe there will be justice," she said during a break on Monday, "but I have less hope each day."

The case of Private Sychyov has shaken the Russian military like no other scandal since the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk in 2000, when 118 on board died after a torpedo exploded during an exercise and commanders lied about the cause and the rescue effort.

The furor stemmed in part from the gruesome nature of his injuries, but also because the case confirmed a widespread fear about the dangers of military service - not from combat, but from the military's own method of discipline.

Dedovshchina is often translated as hazing, evoking a ritualized indoctrination, but it has evolved into more. It is a system of rank and discipline where older conscripts exert unquestioned authority over newer ones. The system has become so formalized that there are four levels that each draftee passes through. Those once subservient later become masters over those who follow.

By the military's own count, disputed as conservative, 16 soldiers were killed by dedovshchina last year, while an additional 276 committed suicide. Critics say that the suicides, as well as deaths listed as crimes or accidents, reflect cases of dedovshchina that commanders disguised to avoid attention.

On Aug. 4, Mr. Chaika announced that there had been 3,500 reports of abuse already this year, compared with 2,798 in 2005, a figure that could reflect a rise in the reporting of cases, as Mr. Ivanov has urged commanders to do. Already this year, dedovshchina has killed 17 soldiers, Mr. Chaika reported, compared with 36 soldiers who have died in combat in Chechnya this year.

Mr. Ivanov, who also is a deputy prime minister and is considered a potential successor to President Vladimir V. Putin, played down Private Sychyov's case at first. "I think nothing serious happened," he said more than three weeks after the incident. "Otherwise, I would have certainly known about it."

He later called the case an "outrageous occurrence" and vowed to prosecute those involved. At the same time, he said it should not be "a reason for baseless accusations against the entire army, and against generals and admirals in particular." And he blamed larger factors beyond the military's control, including high rates of crime and violence throughout society. "In our country," he told the lower house of Parliament in February, "dedovshchina begins in kindergarten."

In an extensive study of dedovshchina, Human Rights Watch reported in 2004 that the system was now badly abused, eroding military preparedness and killing dozens each year, while leaving thousands with "serious - and often permanent - damage to their physical and mental health."

Here in Chelyabinsk, three soldiers are on trial, though only one, Junior Sgt. Aleksandr V. Sivyakov, is directly charged with the abuse of Private Sychyov. The others face charges of hazing other conscripts. At the time of the incident, Sergeant Sivyakov had served for a year, while Private Sychyov had been in the army for only six months.

News media reports have described what happened New Year's Eve as a wanton, drunken assault involving several soldiers. They have erroneously included reports of torture and rape.

In fact, according to testimony, including Private Sychyov's accounts, the details are more banal, though the results no less grievous.

The battalion had a New Year's Eve party in the barracks. When it was over, Sergeant Sivyakov became upset over the poor job soldiers did in cleaning up the mess left behind. For reasons not yet clear, he decided to punish the private.

"The sergeant said I was a bad soldier," Private Sychyov said, according to testimony read by the lead prosecutor. (He remains in a military hospital in Moscow, too ill to testify in person, according to the prosecutors. The panel of three judges refused defense requests that he appear or that the trial be moved temporarily to Moscow.)

"Sivyakov," the private continued, "said he would teach me to follow orders."

His punishment was to squat on the balls of his feet, a position that soon became excruciating.

Private Sychyov said he had no previous trouble with the sergeant, who just that night had advanced to the next level in the dedovshchina ranks, his lawyer said. Private Sychyov said he smelled alcohol on the sergeant's breath.

Private Sychyov, then 18, had been eager to serve in the military, his sister said, unusual in a country in which about 90 percent of the men manage to avoid their nominally mandatory two years of service. "His father served," she added. "His grandfather served. All the men in our family served. It was not even a question."

When the punishment ended, Private Sychyov testified, he could not stand immediately. He sat for 5 to 15 minutes, but then returned to bed. When he woke again later that day, his leg hurt. By Jan. 3 he was bedridden.

Because no one was at the base clinic, given the holidays, when much of Russia shuts down, he did not seek medical attention until Jan. 4. An initial examination diagnosed thrombophlebitis, a swelling caused by a blood clot.

By Jan. 6, as his condition had worsened, he was transferred to a civilian hospital in Chelyabinsk, where doctors found that gangrene had spread through his lower extremities and began amputating them the next day. His mother learned of his condition only after the first amputation.

Sergeant Sivyakov, who sits in a cage during his trial, occasionally exchanging whispered remarks with his mother in the gallery, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers have tried to challenge much of the evidence presented by the prosecution, so far without much success.

One of his lawyers, Yelena V. Ustinova, said in an interview that prosecutors were pressuring soldiers to testify against the sergeant, who has not yet testified in his own defense, and said he was being turned into a scapegoat.

The sergeant's lawyers argue that he did nothing to injure Private Sychyov and that the soldier's injuries may have stemmed from a pre-existing medical condition. [On Friday, a military doctor testified for the defense that the private might have suffered a blood infection for several months before New Year's Day.]

Pvt. Sergei N. Gorlov, one of the three soldiers told not to testify against the sergeant, took the stand Monday and explained how he had awakened at 5 a.m. and saw the sergeant with a squatting Private Sychyov. He also testified that he heard the private scream at least twice. Defense lawyers challenged discrepancies in his account and quizzed him on how he could have identified Sergeant Sivyakov positively in the darkened barracks.

Despite the outrage over the case, the ministry appears to have shown little interest in rooting out dedovshchina itself, only those abuses that come to light. Critics argue that only an end to conscription and the creation of a professional army, with a trained corps of noncommissioned officers, will end the reliance on dedovshchina for discipline in the ranks.

Even Private Gorlov expressed mixed feelings about the practice during a break in the trial. "I don't think it will ever go away," he said.

Pvt. Oleg S. Makarin, another of the soldiers urged not to testify, said the system still had its place in Russia's military.

"There are pluses and minuses to dedovshchina," he said outside the courthouse. "It is easier to run an army if the older soldiers are looking after the younger soldiers." He paused, nervously, before leaving to smoke. "You have to know the limits."