Tuesday, 18 April ‘23
This week’s overview of key events and links to essential reading.
Also see
Ukraine: Defending the Enemy
Russian militaries receive legal assistance in Ukraine. It is guaranteed by the state and provided at the expense of the state budget.
The Ukrainian Unit Recovering Bodies of Fallen Soldiers
The J9 group is tasked with searching for the bodies of servicemen, including Russians.
Captured Russian Paratrooper to be Tried for Irpin War Crimes
Case concerning the alleged abuse of civilians delayed after defence attorney said it fell outside his jurisdiction.
Tuesday, 18 April ‘23
This week’s overview of key events and links to essential reading.
Investigation into Murder of Ukrainian POW
The prosecutor general’s office opened criminal proceedings for the violation of the laws and customs of war (Part 2 of Article 438 of the criminal code) after a video of a Ukrainian soldier being beheaded surfaced on the internet on April 12.
The clip shows an unidentified member of the Russian army using a knife to cut the head off a Ukrainian prisoner of war. There are no details about who the Ukrainian serviceman was or when or where the video was shot, although the green foliage in the background suggests it may have been filmed last summer.
The pre-trial investigation is being carried out by the main investigative department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU).
15 Russians to be Tried for Using 368 Civilians as Human Shields
Prosecutors of the Chernihiv regional prosecutor's office sent an indictment to the court against 15 Russian servicemen for violating the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 438 of the criminal code) in the Chernihiv region. They will be tried in absentia.
According to the investigation, in early March 2022 the accused were among armed Russian soldiers who forcibly detained 368 people, including 69 minors, and used them as human shields in the basement of a school in the occupied village of Yahidne, about 140 kilometres north-east of Kyiv.
Three Rape Suspects Identified
SSU investigators in the Kharkiv region notified three servicemen in absentia of the suspicion of violating the laws and customs of war (Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 438 of the criminal code). The men are accused of raping a young woman in an occupied village in the Izyum territorial community in the Kharkiv region.
According to the investigation, the suspects are regiment commander Emil Akhmerov, driver Konstantin Shlyapnikov and unit commander Mammi Mamiev. They all serve in the 99th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment of the Third Motorised Rifle Division of Russia’s Armed Forces.
During the occupation of the village in Izyum district, the suspects came to the house where the victim lived with her family. They ordered them at gunpoint to hand over their mobile phones for inspection. The soldiers returned in the evening, forced the victim into an armoured personnel carrier and took her to a building where they met the commander. All three men then raped her.
Russian Lieutenant General to be Tried for Leading Azovstal Attack
On April 12, prosecutors of the Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office sent an indictment to the court against the commander of the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Russian Armed Forces’ Southern Military District. The lieutenant general, who is not named in the indictment, is accused of committing deliberate actions with the aim of changing Ukraine’s state boundaries, which led to the death of people and other grave consequences, as well as waging an aggressive war (Part 3 of Article 110; Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 2 of Article 437 of the criminal code).
According to the SSU pre-trial investigation, the suspect planned, coordinated and managed military units in the southern port city of Mariupol and surrounding villages between February 24 to May 2022.
He reportedly met the leaders of so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Russia’s Chechen Republic and participated in planning the capture of Mariupol and the storming of Azovstal, the sprawling metallurgical plant where thousands of Ukrainian civilians and military resisted Russia’s attacks for nearly three months until its fall on May 20, 2022. The whereabouts of the accused remain unknown.
Court of Appeal Confirms Verdict of 12 Years for Three Russian Soldiers
The Chernihiv court of appeal confirmed the verdict of 12 years in jail for three Russian soldiers who were sentenced in absentia for violating the laws and customs of war (Part 2 of Article 438 of the criminal code). The three were sentenced for the brutal treatment of civilians during the occupation of Yahidne, a village about 15 kilometres south of Chernihiv.
The three soldiers are Ivan Oorzhak, Chayan Chinan and Kezhik-ool Shaktar-ool: all natives of the Russian Federation’s far eastern Republic of Tuva, they serve in the military unit 55115 in the capital city Kyzil. In March 2022, during the occupation of Yahidne, they took local residents out of their houses into sub-zero temperatures, forced them to undress, beat them and locked them in a cellar for three days.
Military Commander of Melitopol’s Occupation Administration to be Tried
Prosecutors in Zaporizhzhia sent an indictment to the court against the de-facto military commander of the occupation administration of Melitopol, about 130 kilometres south of Zaporizhzhia, for violating the laws and customs of war by a group of persons (Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 438 of the criminal code). The name of the accused has not been released.
According to the investigation, after the occupation of Melitopol district, the commander of the tactical group of Russia’s National Guard was appointed military commander. On his orders, civilians with pro-Ukrainian views have been detained and subjected to physical and psychological violence.
