Private Sychyov, 19, was brutally beaten and tortured by fellow servicemen at the Chelyabinsk Tank Academy during the New Year's holiday period, and had to have his legs and genitals amputated.
The court, in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk, convicted Sergeant Alexander Sivyakov on charges of abuse of office that led to grievous bodily harm, and ruled that he serve his four-year term in a prison camp. He also faces demotion and a three-year ban on holding commanding posts in the army.
His co-defendants, Pavel Kuzmenko and Gennady Bilimovich, received suspended sentences of one year and six months, respectively, after being found guilty of violating the army code of conduct.
Neither the prosecution nor the defense was happy with the ruling.
Yelena Ustinova, a defense attorney for Sivyakov, said, "The testimonies by key witnesses were ruled invalid, including those from doctors of [Moscow's] Burdenko hospital [where Sychyov is being treated]."
She claimed Sychyov's condition was a result of medical error, and maintained her client's innocence.
In August, the court refused to grant a request from Sivyakov's defense team for a medical reexamination of the private to address discrepancies in the assessment of his condition by the Burdenko hospital and the Defense Ministry.
Burdenko doctors said Sychyov was suffering from hereditary thrombophilia and that this was the main reason why he had had his legs amputated. But Defense Ministry forensic experts said the injuries caused by the New Year's attack had forced doctors to amputate.
Sychyov's sister, Marina Muffert, said the verdict might be fair from the legal point of view, but said the four-year sentence was "too short for a ruined life." She said she would appeal.
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 last year in incidents involving bullying. Experts, however, said the actual number is much higher, because official figures do not take into account hazing-related suicides.
One such incident occurred in Moscow at the end of July when a 19-year-old conscript, Kirill Grigoryev, jumped out of a ninth-floor window, leaving a purported suicide note which said he had decided to take his life after being subjected to bullying.
