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'They're just meat': Russia deploys punishment battalions in echo of Stalin (www.reuters.com)

submitted 1 year ago by Madison_rogue@kbin.social to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml

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Drunk recruits, insubordinate soldiers and convicts are among hundreds of military and civilian offenders pressed into Russian penal units known as "Storm-Z" squads and sent to the frontlines in Ukraine this year. Few live to tell their tale.

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[–] herr@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The Russian "justice" system has a conviction rate of 99.3%. It's safe to say they're giving large swathes of completely innocent people the death penalty here - people who are someone's father, child, or friend.

Is that the system you see as exemplary for the west? Are these the Russian family values I'm always hearing so much about?

[–] zephyreks@lemmy.ml -3 points 1 year ago

It's at a similar level as Japan.

I'm generalizing here, but Asian cultures don't like being wrong so it's far more common for a case to never go to trial than for it to go to trial and end up with an acquittal.