Ukraine: Buried Alive and Beaten

Iryna Domashchenko

Kyiv-based IWPR's court reporter

Tuesday, 28 February, 2023

The link has been copied

Three Russian soldiers are on trial for holding a civilian hostage for nearly a week and subjecting him to torture which included repeatedly burying him in a hole in the ground.

The men are 23-year-old sergeant Aleksandr Borisov, 20-year-old native of the Altai Republic Ryan Madyaevand and 28-year-old sergeant and sniper commander Maksym Sulaindzyuga. 

The victim Serhii D, a 41-year-old security security guard, was held captive on the grounds of the golf club where he was employed in the village of Gavronshchyna in the Bucha district of Kyiv region.

He was taken prisoner on March 2, 2022 after the Russian soldiers searched him and found correspondence with his sister on his mobile phone expressing a pro-Ukrainian position.

According to the case file, the victim's hands were bound and he was blindfolded. He was then thrown into a hole dug in the grounds of the Kyiv Golf Club and the soldiers buried him completely for several minutes.

"When I was suffocating, they dug me up,” the victim told the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) during the pre-trial investigation. 

The man was then tied to a tree for two days. On March 4, he was untied and once again thrown into a hole in the ground after having his hands and feet bound and his eyes blindfolded. 

On the same day, Serhii D succeeded in breaking free of his restraints and tried to escape. However, he was caught, beaten, tied him up again and ordered to return to the hole and lie face down.

The man tried to escape twice more, but both times was caught, beaten and returned to the hole.

His fourth attempt on March 7, during the Ukrainian counteroffensive, was successful. 

However, according to the SSU, Russian soldiers opened fire on him as he made his escape and the man received a gunshot wound, resulting in an open fracture of his arm. In addition to his physical injuries, doctors during the pre-trial investigation also diagnosed the man with a psycho-emotional disorder.

According to the investigation, during the entire time he was held captive in temperatures of just two degrees Celsius, Serhii D was deprived of warm clothing and given only a few biscuits and water that was not suitable for human consumption.

The investigation found that the military of the 64th separate motorised rifle brigade of the 35th combined army of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was involved in the torture. 

It was this brigade that took an active part in mass killings and torture of civilians in the Bucha district in Kyiv region at the end of February and March 2022. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin subsequently awarded it the "honourary rank of guards". One soldier from the brigade later fled to Europe and has claimed that he now wants to testify against Russia and his colleagues in the international courts.

Borisov, Madyaevand and Sulaindzyuga were all indicted under Part 1 of Art. 28 and Part 1 of Art. 438 of the criminal code of Ukraine on the violation of laws and customs of war - cruel treatment of the civilian population committed by a group of persons. If convicted, the men face from eight to twelve years of imprisonment. They have been declared wanted.

The prosecution emphasised that the Russian soldiers reliably knew that there were civilians on the territory of the golf club and that the victim belonged to its service staff.

The defendants were identified in August 2022 and in November the SSU completed a special pre-trial investigation and sent the indictment to the Makariv district court, Kyiv region. The case will be heard in open session, in accordance with the absentee process and subpoenas of the accused persons to the court.