Russian Soldier to be Tried for Murdering Bucha Resident
The victim’s teenage son survived by playing dead after he was shot and wounded.
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Tuesday, 9 Jul ‘24
This week’s overview of key events and links to essential reading.
A Russian soldier is to go on trial for murdering a resident of the town of Bucha, in Kyiv region, and attempting to kill his teenage son in March 2022.
Aleksandr Kashin, 29, serves in the 2nd operational company of the Directorate of the Federal Service of Russia’s National Guard in the Yaroslavl region, where he comes from. According to the investigation, on March 17, 2022, Kashin stopped Ruslan Nechyporenko, 47, and his 14-year-old son Yuriy as they made their way to the centre of then-occupied Bucha to receive humanitarian aid and collect medicines and food.
Kashin is alleged to have opened fire, killing Nechyporenko and wounding his son, who fell to the floor and pretended to be dead until the soldier left.
On July 2, 2024, the family of the victims filed two civil lawsuits with the Irpin court for compensation for the moral damage caused to them and the injured boy. Nechyporenko left behind three sons.
Saved by the Sweater’s Hood
On March 22, 2022, the Okhmatdyt Kyiv Children's Hospital, where Yuriy was treated for his injuries, published the teenager’s account of events.
“We raised our hands, my father said that we have no weapons and nothing to pose a threat to the Russian army,” he said. “The father turned sideways [to me] and he the Russian soldier] started shooting at him. Dad fell, then [the soldier] started shooting at me: twice in the arm and then, when I was lying down, he shot in the hood [of my sweatshirt],” the boy said.
According to the investigation, both of the victims were wearing white armbands on their hands, which indicated that they were civilians.
“I was lucky, [the bullet] didn’t hit my head,” recalled Yuriy, the youngest of the three sons.
After the Russian left, the teen ran to the nearest shelter, a kindergarten, where he was given first aid. Then he went home and told the family that his father had been killed.
The family buried Nechyporenko in the yard of their house, subsequently managing to evacuate from Bucha and shelter with relatives in the neighbouring Cherkasy region.
As they left the town, Nechyporenko’s wife, 49-year-old Alla, and their other children had to walk down the same street where the shooting had occurred.
“We walked and prayed [all the way], we didn't know if we would live... We said goodbye to life every second,” the widow said in the article published by the children’s hospital.
After Ukrainian forces had regained control of Bucha, the family returned and the man's body was reburied at the local cemetery.
The Trial
Investigators issued a suspicion against Kashin a year after the event, in March 2023, and in April prosecutors sent it to court. The preparatory stage with summons of the Russian soldier and achange of the defence lawyer stretched the process out for a year. In March 2024, the Irpin city court ordered a trial in absentia as the accused did not respond to the summons.
The two victims in the case, the widow of the deceased and his son, were in court on July 2, 2024. They also filed two civil lawsuits for moral damages before the hearing as required by the Ukrainian criminal procedure.
The Irpin court accepted both lawsuits, but decided to postpone the consideration of the case to properly inform the accused and Kyrylo Shurkhno, his defence attorney assigned by the Free Legal Aid Centre, about the civil action and allow them to present objections and justifications during the trial.
The victims and their legal representative, Yuriy Bilous, opposed the postponement. The defence attorney and Nataliya Krul, the prosecutor of the Bucha district prosecutor’s office, agreed “to respect the rights of the civil defendant”.
The court decided to proceed and adjourned the hearing to August 15. The prosecutor will then announce the indictment, the victims and the civil lawsuits, and the court must decide on the procedure for examining the evidence.
Yuriy Bilous told IWPR that the two lawsuits amounted to nine million hryvnias in total (225,000 US dollars).
"We have no objections to the court decision,” Bilous continued. “We were asked for our opinion, we believed that it was possible to start [judicial proceedings], but we understood the position, why the court decided so. From the first meeting, our position has been consistent and principled, that the process should be as fair as possible.”
If found guilty Kashin will be charged with violating the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional homicide and attempted intentional homicide as per Part 2 of Article 438, Part 2 of Article 15 and Part 2 of Article 438 of the criminal code. Kashin faces ten to fifteen years in prison or life in prison.
