"Hello, my name is Nikolay, I am 24 years old and I died serving in the Russian army."
Twenty-seven young men, many in military uniform, gaze out from a page on the social networking site Odnoklassniki.ru - a Russian equivalent of Facebook.
Many smile, looking happy and proud.
All of them have died while in the army - but only a few perished in actual combat operations in Chechnya or Dagestan.
A non-governmental charity, The Mother's Right Foundation, has set up the unusual page. It says that the majority died from extreme bullying, crime, bad living conditions or the abnormal psychological climate in the army.
Some were killed by fellow servicemen, shot at point-blank range or beaten to death.
Others were forced to commit suicide by constant violence and abuse, the charity claims.
Read the rest of the story here.
No comments:
Post a Comment