Soldier: "Step Aside, Idiot", Ensign Said And Threw a Shovel at Me

Soldier of the 103d brigade of airborne troops told details of the incident near Vitsebsk.

Yesterday it became known about the incident on the Losvido training area, when the ensign of the 103d separate guard airborne brigade threw a shovel at the soldier. As a result, soldier had lacerated spleen; ensign is sentenced to 5 years in jail, but he impeaches the verdict.

Journalists of nn.by found the soldier. Ihar is 21 years old. He comes from Vitsebsk.

The guy told about the incident. His spleen was excised.

"I was recruited on 15 November 2016. I had no conflicts with the ensign before. There were misunderstandings with two dischargees. Sometimes they beat me.

That day we laid some plating on the training area. I did something wrong and the ensign said: "Step aside, idiot." I listened to him and stopped working. And then he threw the shovel at me. I felt how it hit me on the left side," Ihar told.

"I felt pain at once. I felt sick and could not stand," the soldier said. "I was rendered a first aid on the training area. But the nurse failed to say something, there was no equipment. I was taken to the unit. Then I was delivered to the hospital in the city. I had a lacerated spleen and was immediately taken to an operating room. The organ was excised."

Ihar says he kept in secret all details of the incident, he was scared.

"After the operation my parents were informed and they arrived. They were shocked. Father immediately addressed to the Prosecutor's Office, the case was opened, inspection of the unit started, I was discharged. No one came to ask me to reverse my testimony.

Then I had a face-to-face interrogation with the ensign. The ensign insists it happened accidentally. He says he did not see me when he threw the shovel."

"When I was stepping aside, he was standing with his friend-ensign. He did not work at that moment. There are several witnesses. But the situation is weird, in court they say they did not see anything, although they did. But these guys still serve, their discharge from the army on May 15," Ihar explains.

Now he does not work and waits for hearings to end.

He says he does not feel the loss of his spleen.

He says the ensign is "190 cm tall, and is about 35 years old", he is charged under Article 455, para 3 of the Criminal Code - official misconduct, resulting in grave consequences. The punishment stipulated by the Article is 5-12 years of imprisonment.

The Vitsebsk District Court sentenced him to 5 years of imprisonment.