Tuesday, 4 April ‘23

Captured Russian Soldier to be Tried for Abusing Civilians

Investigators of the National Police of Ukraine completed the pre-trial investigation and submitted their findings to the court on a Russian serviceman violating the laws and customs of war as per Part 1 of Article 438 of the criminal code.

The investigation found that in March 2022, during the temporary occupation of Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv, 33-year-old paratrooper Andrey Medvedev and his commander interrogated civilians using physical violence and mock executions. 

Medvedev held the position of senior sniper-reconnaissance officer of the airborne assault division. After Irpin, his battalion was deployed to other regions of hostilities. The accused was captured in September 2022 in the Kherson region and is currently in custody. He faces up to 12 years in prison.

Russian Guardsman Indicted for Torture in Kherson 

Kherson prosecutors sent an indictment to the court against Alexey Oshchepkov, a commander of the 15th special unit Vyatich of the Federal Service of Russia’s National Guard for violating the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Article 438 of the criminal code). Oshchepkov will be tried in absentia. 

According to the investigation, in May 2022 the 45-year-old ordered the detention of a family member of a village head in the Kherson region to forcibly obtain information; the man was subsequently released. He also ordered the detention of the head of one of the territorial communities in the region. To induce him to cooperate, Russian soldiers beat him, applied electric torture and put him under psychological pressure.

Court Issues First Sentence for the Deportation of Civilians 

A judge who was involved in the deportation of a Crimean citizen from the territory of the temporarily occupied peninsula was sentenced in absentia to ten years in prison. She was found guilty of violating the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Article 438 of the criminal code of Ukraine). Media reports identified the judge as Larisa Lykhachova.

In 2014, after Russia’s occupation of the peninsula, the judge transferred to the service of illegally created judicial bodies and took on the role of "Chairman of the Armyansk City Court of the Republic of Crimea". In this role she decided to expel a Ukrainian citizen from the peninsula on claims that the individual lacked permit documents and did not abide by “rules of staying on the territory of the Russian Federation”.

It is the first sentence addressing the deportation of civilians from Crimea; according to the prosecutor general’s office, courts are considering three similar cases. 

Russian Serviceman Indicted for Killing Two in Chernihiv

The prosecutor's office of Nizhyn district in the Chernihiv region sent an indictment to the court against a Russian soldier accused of violating the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder by a group of persons (Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1, 2 of Article 438 of the criminal code). 

The investigation found that on April 1, 2022, the Russian soldier abducted three male residents in the village of Gaivoron. After releasing the oldest man he took the others to the bushes and shot them with a machine gun. The Russian military, whose name was not released, will be tried in absentia. 

Russia’s Head of Air Transport Agency Investigated for Violating Ukraine’s State Borders 

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) reported that it had gathered evidence against Oleksandr Neradko, chief of Rosaviatsia, Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, for providing tools and/or means of committing a crime and planning, preparing, launching and waging an aggressive war (Part 5 of Article 27 and Part 2 of Article 437 of the criminal code).

According to the SBU, Neradko, who is on the list of international sanctions, supported Russia’s ministry of mefence in the transfer of occupation groups to Ukraine’s state border and to Crimea. To this end, he involved four Russian airlines, which provided their aircrafts to transport personnel, weapons and ammunition. 

Three Russian Soldiers Suspected of Systematic Rape in Kyiv Region

National Police investigators announced suspicions in absentia against three Russian soldiers for violating the laws and customs of war and conspiracy by a group of persons for the rape of a resident in Bucha’s territorial community, in Kyiv Region. 

The suspects are Aleksandr Radnatarov, Belikt Zhugdurov and Kiril Kholmurzaev from the 37th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, Military Unit 69647, stationed in the city of Kyakhta, Russia’s eastern Republic of Buryatia. According to the investigation, in March 2022, the three systematically sexually assaulted a woman. They said they would shoot her if relatives or neighbors intervened, and also threatened to rape the woman’s young daughter and kill her elderly mother.