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Court rejects medical re-examination in Private Sychyov hazing case

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CHELYABINSK, August 24 (RIA Novosti) - A Urals military court ruled Thursday against a forensic medical re-examination in the case of a Russian conscript who was brutally beaten in early January, a lawyer for the soldier said.

Private Andrei Sychyov, 19, had both his legs and genitals amputated after allegedly being beaten and tortured over the New Year holiday at his army unit in the southern Urals city of Chelyabinsk, 1,180 miles east of Moscow.

"The court has not found legal grounds for a re-examination," Yevgeny Belov said.

A re-examination claim was filed by lawyers for the main suspect in the case, Sergeant Alexander Sivyakov, because conclusions by the Moscow-based Burdenko hospital contradicted the official medical report by the Defense Ministry.

Top doctors from the Burdenko Military Hospital said the victim suffered from thrombophlebitis, and that the illness was of a hereditary nature.

But a senior medical expert from the Defense Ministry's central forensic laboratory said the illness and the subsequent amputation resulted from beating and torture, because Sychyov was forced to spend hours in an unnatural crouching position.

"The head of the laboratory, Viktor Kalkutin, has confirmed medical grounds for charges against Sergeant Alexander Sivyakov," Belov said.

Sivyakov could face three to 10 years in prison if convicted of abuse of office and the use of violence or threatening violence, the Chelyabinsk Military Prosecutor's Office said earlier, adding he had allegedly committed six similar offences in the past.

There are two other suspects in the case -- Privates Pavel Kuzmenko and Gennady Bilimovich - who are also members of the logistics support battalion at the Chelyabinsk Tank Academy in which Sychyov served.

Kuzmenko and Bilimovich are accused of violating the army discipline code and face up to five years in prison.

The Sychyov case, the most high-profile in the latest string of hazing incidents in Russia, caused a public outcry across the nation, raising concerns over the spread of violence in the Russian army.

According to official statistics, 16 Russian servicemen died in incidents involving bullying last year alone. Experts, however, say the actual number is much higher, because the official figures do not take into account hazing-related suicides.

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