Ukrainian police identify Russian soldier and collaborator who tortured Kherson residents – photo

A resident of Oleshky with Russians took part in brutal torture in occupied Kherson. photo: NATIONAL POLICE

Ukrainian law enforcement officers have identified a Russian National Guard serviceman and a collaborator from the settlement of Oleshky who were among those who brutally tortured at least 90 Ukrainians at a Kherson pre-trial detention centre.

Source: National Police in Kherson Oblast; Kherson Oblast Prosecutor’s Office

Details: The National Police reported that during the occupation of Kherson, the Russian military set up a torture chamber in the occupied building of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kherson Oblast. The Russians would bring illegally detained local residents there and torture them.

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Investigators have established the identities of two of the torturers, said Ihor Demianiuk, Head of the Department for the Investigation of Crimes Committed in the Conditions of Armed Conflict of the Kherson Oblast Police Investigation Department.

The Russian serviceman and the Ukrainian citizen have been served with notices of suspicion of committing war crimes, namely violation of the laws and customs of war.

Investigators established that the Russian soldier, 33, working with the 33-year-old resident of Oleshky who had previously accepted an offer to cooperate with the Russian forces, illegally detained a 40-year-old local resident of Kherson in June 2022.

A bag was put on the man’s head and he was brought to the building of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kherson Oblast, where he was kept in a temporary isolation unit that had not been used for many years.

There, the detainee was imprisoned in unsanitary conditions in a cell not suitable for long-term use. The man was denied food and water, beaten, threatened with death, and encouraged to cooperate with the occupation authorities.

So far, the police have established that the Russian military detained and tortured about 90 citizens of Ukraine in the basement of the Main Directorate of the National Police while the city was under occupation. The fate of some of the detainees is still unknown.

The prosecutor’s office added that three civilians were tortured to death.

The prosecutor’s office stated that during the occupation of Kherson, local residents would be illegally imprisoned in the building by the collaborator, who had assumed a position in the pseudo-law enforcement agency, and the Russian National Guard officer, together with other Russian military personnel. They would use psychological and physical violence against the detainees.

Detainees would be interrogated for several hours in a row, with various methods of torture being used, including genital electrocution. In addition, the criminals forced the victims to testify against themselves, their relatives and acquaintances, as well as encouraging them to cooperate with the Russian occupiers.

The Russian serviceman and the Ukrainian citizen who cooperated with Russian special forces were served with a notice of suspicion of committing crimes under Art. 28.2 (commission of a criminal offence by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, or by an organised group or criminal organisation) and Art. 438.1 (violation of the laws and customs of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The suspects face 8 to 12 years’ imprisonment.

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