Russian Soldier Sentenced to Life Imprisonment
Judges reject defence lawyer’s argument that there was a lack of proper evidence to support a murder charge.
A Russian soldier has been sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for shooting dead two civilians in the village of Hayvoron in the Chernihiv region in April 2022.
The Bakhmatsky district court of the Chernihiv region found 22-year-old Sergei Agafonov guilty of violating the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder (Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1, 2 of Article 438 of the criminal code of Ukraine).
The judges rejected Agafonov’s defence lawyer’s argument that there was a lack of proper evidence to support the charge of premeditated murder.
Hayvoron is a village with a population of 400 in the east of Chernihiv region. The Dmytrivska community, which includes the village, borders the Konotop district of the Sumy region. On February 25, 2022, Russian troops captured the Sumy city of Konotop. With a population of 85,000, the city is 40 kilometres from Hayvoron. By February 27, the Russians had reached the village.
"The villages of our community stood right in the path of the Russian troops from Konotop in the direction of Kyiv,” said Valentyn Boyko, the head of the Dmitrivska community. “The enemy's manpower, as well as a lot of military equipment and weapons, went this way. The enemy occupied the tractor facility and settled in the houses of the residents of Hayvoron. In other words, they had a deployment point here.”
The crimes for which Agafonov was convicted took place on April 1, the day before Ukrainian forces liberated Hayvoron and the occupied part of the Chernihiv region from Russian troops.
Agafonov comes from Kirov, Russia and serves in the 21st separate motorised rifle brigade of the Russian armed forces. His unit No 12128 is stationed in the village of Totskyi, Orenburg region.
Investigators discovered that on the morning of April 1, 2022, the accused and two unidentified Russian soldiers detained three men. They were locked in the basement of a house and interrogated.
Volodymyr D, 62, was the oldest detainee and begged the Russians to let him go because of his age and poor health. He was released and the soldiers went on to demand the two others, 54-year-old ex-soldier Mykola S and 28-year-old hunter Bohdan T, confess that they were "nationalists" or "military intelligence".
Then Agafonov led them out of the cellar and into some bushes where he shot them. According to the investigation, he fired about six shots and the men died on the spot.
In court, the prosecutor requested that Agafonov be sentenced to 12 years in prison for cruel treatment of civilians (Part 1, Article 438 of the criminal code of Ukraine), and to life imprisonment for intentional murder (Part 2, Article 438 of the criminal code). The combined punishment would be life imprisonment.
Agafonov's lawyer, from the free legal aid centre, noted that he had had no opportunity to contact his client and find out his position, but disputed the charge of premeditated murder, arguing that there was a lack of proper evidence to support this.
"It is known from the testimony of witnesses that there were many soldiers in the same uniform at that time,” he wrote in his submission to the court. “Also, witness statements about a person with a red beard are not sufficient evidence. Moreover, the military ID in the name of PERSON_10 [Agafonov] was not seized from him personally, but was found in a medical center and cannot indicate the involvement of PERSON_10 in the specified crime."
The defence lawyer requested that Agafonov be acquitted of the intentional killing of civilians and instead be sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for their cruel treatment.
However, the court decided that his client’s guilt was confirmed by the evidence and rejected the defence arguments. The court considered the protocols of the inspection of the scene of the incident, video recordings of investigative experiments and Agafonov’s military ID as well as interviews with relatives of the dead men, the victim Volodymyr D and eight witnesses from the village of Hayvoron.
Volodymyr D recounted how on April 1, 2022, he, Mykola S and Bohdan T had been detained in a cellar. There were three Russian soldiers present. The one in charge was short and red-haired and Volodymyr D identified Agafonov from photographs in the case file.
The villager in whose cellar the Russians kept the detainees also said that he had seen through his kitchen window how a short, red-haired Russian soldier led the two men through the vegetable garden towards a pond.
When the soldier returned, he said that he had let the men go. The witness also recognised Agafonov from the photo.
The head of a paramedic station destroyed by the Russians told the court how the defendant's military ID had been found when the medical centre was being cleaned. The document was handed over to law enforcement officers, who identified it. Investigators also examined pages from the Russian Vkontakte and Odnoklasniki social networks and confirmed that a photo posted on the latter matched Agafonov's appearance and personal information.
An absentee suspicion of Agafonov was announced in June 2022. A year later, in May 2023, the Bakhmatsky district court of the Chernihiv region gave permission for a special trial in the absence of the accused. The Russian did not appear when summoned to the investigation and the court.
As requested by the prosecutor, on January 25, the court sentenced Agafonov to 12 years in prison for brutal treatment of civilians, and to life imprisonment for violating the laws and customs of war in combination with intentional murder. The final punishment is life imprisonment.
The defence has 30 days to appeal.
