Russian Captain on Trial for Cruel Treatment of Civilians
Villagers reported that the occupying forces hunted for young women to sexually assault.
Russian Captain on Trial for Cruel Treatment of Civilians
Villagers reported that the occupying forces hunted for young women to sexually assault.
The Ivankiv district court has received an indictment against a Russian captain accused of cruel treatment of civilians during the occupation of Zhmiivka, a village in Kyiv region.
On September 26 the court will hold a preparatory hearing against Magomed Isayev, a unit commander from Zubutli-Miatli, a village in the Russian north Caucasus Republic of Dagestan.
Zhmiivka is located about 120 kilometres north of Kyiv, near the border with Belarus. It was occupied in late February 2022 by units of Russia’s 291st Guards Motorised Rifle Regiment, which is headquartered in the village of Borzoi in the Chechen Republic.
After the Russian soldiers took control of Zhmiivka, which then had a population of 500, they deployed military equipment, patrolled the streets and made use of private properties. Locals were reportedly intimidated and threatened with physical violence, their movements controlled and their houses raided. Soldiers evicted many villagers from their homes and then occupied them. Soon rumours spread that the soldiers were seeking young women with the intention of raping them, so locals tried to hide information as to their whereabouts.
Isayev, 44, had reportedly targeted 20-year-old Oleksandra, who lived with her family and her pregnant sister in a two-floor building with several apartments on Tsentralnaya Street. On March 16, 2022 Isaev went to the building to find the girl.
Oleksandra’s mother Svitlana met Isayev in the street. She reported the conversation to the police in a video interview.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“To see your daughter,” he replied.
“Why do you need her?” Svitlana said.
“That's ‘I want’ and that's all," he commented.
Svitlana told the soldier that she did not know where her daughter was; Isaev grabbed her clothes and pushed her to the ground.
“He said to me, 'Do you want me to shoot?' and I replied, ‘Shoot, I won't draw her [out] for you.’ He didn't care that I was an old woman."
As Svitlana laid on the ground, Isaev pointed a machine gun at her and fired above her head. He was then distracted by an explosion at a Russian post about a kilometre away. The serviceman got into his car and drove off.
Oleksandra told the police that she left home that day to hide in a series of basements in fear of the Russians that she heard were searching the village for girls. She did not want to flee the village without her family.
"My sister was pregnant and I would abandon them? This is my family. Where would I run without them? And where would I go by myself?" the young woman told the police.
After her sister had given birth, she left the village with her sister and her husband, an older nephew and the newborn baby.
The investigation found that Isayev and his subordinates regularly visited houses and apartments in Zhmiivka, checking on the residents and demanding they leave. On March 19, they evicted a couple from their apartment, under the threat of automatic machine guns: the two were given two hours to pack their belongings and leave. The Russian then moved into the flat until the village was de-occupied on March 30.
On June 7, 2023 Isayev was notified of suspicion in absentia and on June 26 he was declared an international wanted person. The serviceman faces between eight and 12 years in prison for violating the laws and customs of war under Part 1 of Article 438 of Ukraine’s criminal code.
The Ivankiv district court has started the pre-hearing work on the case merits and will summon the accused to court. The pre-trial investigation was conducted by investigators of the national police in Kyiv but the trial will take place in the location of the crime.
At the meeting on August 30, Isayev's defence attorney, assigned by the state legal aid programme during the pre-trial investigation, submitted a motion to be replaced with a lawyer operating in the region. Due to the workload and the costs attached to travel from Kyiv to Ibankiv, the assigned lawyer cannot get to the court.
The prosecutor did not object to the motion and the court granted the request, instructing the Regional Centre for Providing Free Secondary Legal Aid in Kyiv region to replace the lawyer.
