Collaborator betrayed fellow villagers in Mykolaiv region for torture to the occupiers

The Court of Appeal upheld the sentence of a 63-year-old resident of Mykolaiv region who was convicted of aiding the Russian military during the occupation. The man assisted the aggressors in detaining his fellow villagers for torture.

This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations with reference to the Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor's Office.

The Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor's Office defended its position in the Court of Appeal, and the verdict of the court of first instance against the 63-year-old resident of Mykolaiv region remained unchanged.

According to the investigation, in July 2022, in one of the settlements of Mykolaiv district, during the occupation, he helped the military of the aggressor country to identify the places of residence of local residents and detain fellow villagers.

The victims were severely beaten, and to obtain the necessary information, the occupiers imitated the execution of two people, threatened to destroy their families and shell the village with "Grad" rockets.

Prosecutors proved in court that the defendant actively assisted the military by providing information about local residents and their residence, thereby facilitating the occupiers' torture of civilians.

The convict is currently in custody, and the verdict has entered into force. The prosecutor's office emphasized that such a sentence is an important signal of the inadmissibility of cooperation with the aggressor and responsibility for aiding and abetting war crimes.

The man was sentenced to 9 years in prison for aiding the Russian military in the torture of civilians during the temporary occupation, in accordance with Part 5 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

In early January, the Khadzhibeysky District Court of Odesa found Yuriy Belyatsky, an officer of the 9th Department of the 5th Service of the Russian Federal Security Service, guilty of violating the laws and customs of war.

According to the investigation, during the occupation of Kherson on March 31, 2022, Russian military broke into the apartment of the head of the recruitment department of one of the military units. The man was not at home, so the invaders took his wife and son hostage.

Анна Бальчінос