Andrey Andreevich Kapatsyna (b. 17 January 1995), a Pentecostal Christian from Magadan.
Kapatsyna was assigned to the same military unit as Vyacheslav Reznichenko; he also refused to be sent to Ukraine in the autumn of 2022.
The story of the mobilised air traffic controller was told by Sibir.Realii with reference to the Military Lawyers Telegram channel. He was drafted up on 22 September 2022 during a ‘partial mobilisation’, although as an air traffic controller, he was supposed to be excluded from mobilisation. He refused to follow the order to leave the military unit for the combat zone in Ukraine twice. A criminal case was initiated against him under part 2.1 of Article 332 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
At the trial, Kapatsyna insisted that he “cannot pick up a weapon and use it against other people.” On 29 June 2023, the court in Vladivostok sentenced him to two years and ten months of imprisonment in a penal colony.
Kapatsyna appealed the sentence, which is close to the upper limit of the range of 2 to 3 years part 2.1 of Article 332 of the Criminal Code assumes. On 17 August 2023, the Military Court of the Pacific Fleet, according to court records, upheld the initial decision. Kapatsyna was able to return to the Magadan region to serve his sentence. Russian human rights organization Memorial recognized Andrey Kapatsyna as a political prisoner.
His address is:
685918, Splavnaya village, Khasynsky district, Magadan oblast, Colony Settlement No. 2 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Magadan oblast.
