MOSCOW, January 29 (RIA Novosti) - Military prosecutors have filed 11 criminal cases in connection with a hazing attack at a tank academy in the Urals that left an army conscript severely disabled, Russia's chief military prosecutor said Sunday.
"Three suspects, including Junior Sergeant Alexander Sivyakov, have been arrested on prosecutors' request," Alexander Savenkov said. "Three officers, who are accused of negligence, have been released on recognizance."
A similar restraint order has been issued against Major General Alexei Sidorov, the head of the academy, for trying to cover up the attack.
Three servicemen, considering their actions and behavior during the investigation, have been sanctioned to remain under close supervision by their commanding officers.
Two other servicemen suspected in hazing attacks against their fellow soldiers are still awaiting their restraint orders.
Currently, 188 servicemen from an auxiliary battalion at the tank academy have undergone medical examination. Prosecutors interrogated 208 people and conducted 11 investigative experiments, the Prosecutor General's Office said.
The brutal hazing attack occurred on New Year's Eve at a tank academy in the Ural Mountain city of Chelyabinsk, 1,180 miles east of Moscow. Private Andrei Sychev, 18, had to have both of his legs amputated because of the injuries he sustained during three hours of beating and torture.
This instance of hazing, not uncommon in Russia's armed forces, has received much publicity recently in Russia and more hazing investigations have been opened in the wake of the Chelyabinsk attack.
According to official Russian statistics, 16 servicemen died in hazing incidents last year, but experts contend the actual number is much higher, as the official figures do not take into account suicides caused by hazing.
