Crimean ship captain captured rescuers near Zmiine and may go to jail for war crimes

The captain of a Russian vessel from Crimea was notified of suspicion of ill-treatment of civilians during a mission near Zmiine. He was accused of illegal capture and detention of people.

This is stated in the suspicion of the Prosecutor General's Office.

Law enforcement officers served a notice of suspicion to Stanislav Stavytsky, captain of the rescue and towing vessel Shakhtyor of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. He is accused of involvement in a war crime - cruel treatment of civilians and violation of the laws and customs of war.

The case concerns the events of February 2022, when the Ukrainian civilian ship Sapphire, owned by the Maritime Search and Rescue Service, sailed into the territorial waters of Ukraine near Zmeinyi Island to carry out a humanitarian mission - evacuating the wounded and dead. There were 17 crew members and 4 civilians on board.

According to the investigation, the crew of theSapphire received a radio order from a Russian warship to stop moving and anchor. After that, unidentified Russian servicemen boarded the vessel, ordered everyone to lie down on the deck and fired shots in the air, and then conducted a search, saying they were looking for weapons and Ukrainian servicemen.

The Russian military seized the vessel, despite the fact that it was not armed and was not performing any combat missions. During the detention, the occupiers threatened the crew with weapons, conducted searches, confiscated cell phones and kept people in humiliating conditions.

At the same time, the captain of the Shakhtyor vessel, Stanislav Stavytskyi, organized the illegal deprivation of liberty of four civilians. They were held in inhuman conditions: without food, water, in a stuffy room, with constant psychological threats.

The occupiers searched the crew members, seized their cell phones and other property, and resorted to inhumane treatment. Stavytskyi knew that these were civilians who were heading to Zmiinyi Island to participate in a humanitarian rescue operation.

On February 28, the crew was forcibly taken to the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea. Among the illegally detained were the rector of the church, an electrician, a doctor and a chaplain. They were held in captivity until May 2022 and were released as part of an exchange procedure.

Law enforcement officers served Stanislav Stavytskyi with a notice of suspicion of committing a war crime - cruel treatment of civilians and other violations of the laws and customs of war by prior conspiracy by a group of persons under Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

In an interview with experts from the Odesa-based organization Committee of Voters of Ukraine, Ivan Tarasenko, a doctor at the Odesa Regional Children's Hospital, told how he was taken prisoner after the Russians seized the Sapfir rescue ship. After a stay in occupied Crimea, the crew members were put into vehicles and then flown by plane - despite hopes that they were being taken to Odesa, they were sent to the Russian city of Kursk.

In Shebekino, Belgorod Oblast, at night, the prisoners were taken out of their cars, beaten, and forced to kneel in the snow. They were brutally beaten on the head, torso, arms, and legs with rifle butts. The first full-fledged exchange of prisoners of war took place on March 24, when 19 Ukrainian civilian sailors from the Sapphire vessel, who were captured while trying to evacuate our military from Zmeinyi Island, returned home.

Анна Бальчінос