Former plant director found guilty of torture in Kherson region

The court considered the case of 44-year-old Serhiy Budnyk from Yasynuvata, Donetsk region, a former sanitary instructor of the 1st army corps of the Donetsk People's Republic. He is accused of cruel treatment of civilians and participation in the abduction and torture of a resident of Kherson region in the village of Mylove, Beryslav district, which was then occupied by Russian troops.

The Center for Investigative Journalism attended the court hearing and gathered details of the case.

On April 4, 2022, at about 14:00, DNR militants stopped the victim's car at an illegally arranged checkpoint in the center of the village of Milove. Threatening him with weapons, they forced the man to go to the commandant's office located in the house of culture. There he was interrogated by Serhiy Budnyk.

According to the investigation, he beat the victim with his hands, feet and the butt of a rifle on the head and back, threatened to kill him and kept him in the basement. On the night of April 5, the man was taken to the battalion commander, Suren Mkrtchyan, who ordered the use of physical force to obtain a confession. Budnik followed the order and continued to beat the man for almost an hour, wearing a metal helmet on his head. After that, the torture continued every day until the morning of April 7, when the victim was released.

He is charged with Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - cruel treatment of civilians, as well as other violations of the laws and customs of war. The case is being considered in absentia, as the accused is in the temporarily occupied territory and there is no contact with him. At the hearing, the court examined four volumes of written evidence, a lineup report where the victim identified Budnik in a photo, as well as testimony from the victim and eyewitnesses. Interrogations of witnesses and the victim are ahead.

Before the war, Budnyk was the director of the Yasynuvata Machine-Building Plant and studied at the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University in Kharkiv. His family worked in the prosecutor's office in Donetsk region. After the occupation of Yasynuvata by the Russians, he remained in leadership positions and attended events in support of the leaders of the DPR, including the "first bell" at the school in 2018.

In the spring of 2022, he found himself in the village of Mylove in the Kherson region as a sanitary instructor of the 1st rifle battalion of the 125th regiment of the dpr mobilization reserve. He conducted so-called "filtration" interrogations to obtain information about the cooperation of local residents with the Ukrainian defense forces, using physical and psychological violence, death threats and beatings.

Alla Torchanska, former head of the village of Dudchany, said that Budnyk had the call sign "Kolob," acted as an investigator and brutally interrogated local residents. The former head of the Mylivka community, Oleh Yakhniienko, also confirmed that Budnyk controlled the "moral state" of his subordinates and was engaged in repressions against civilians.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for April 9. The court will question the victim and witnesses, as well as examine additional written evidence.

Also in the Kherson region, a Russian "commandant" who tortured civilians and forced them to cooperate with the occupiers was exposed. Kherson police found that the "garrison chief" of the Russian occupation forces was involved in two more cases of torture of civilians.

Анна Бальчінос