Kherson resident tortured and threatened to cut off his fingers: court sentences Russian policeman

In Kherson, a court convicted a Russian police officer in absentia for a war crime committed during the occupation of the city. The investigation proved that he was involved in the illegal detention and torture of a civilian in a seized detention center used by the Russian military as a torture chamber.

This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations with reference to the verdict of the Kherson City Court.

According to the case file, in August 2022, a Russian police officer, along with Russian military personnel, detained a resident of Kherson who did not take part in hostilities and did not serve in the Ukrainian army. After the detention, the man was forcibly taken to the temporary detention center No. 1 on Teploenergetikiv Street, where the occupation authorities set up a place for illegal detention of civilians and interrogations.

According to the verdict, the victim was taken for hours of interrogation on the same day. During the interrogation, the accused repeatedly beat the man with a rubber baton on various parts of his body, including his head, neck, back and limbs.

In addition to physical violence, the detainee was subjected to psychological pressure. According to the court, the occupant threatened to cut off his fingers and hands with a grinder and staged a shooting.

During the trial, the victim said that after the beating he repeatedly fainted. According to him, after losing consciousness, he was doused with water, brought back to life and continued to be abused.

The court found that the man had been illegally detained for almost a month - until September 12, 2022. He was not provided with any procedural documents or official explanations of the reasons for his detention. The conditions of detention were extremely difficult: the cells were overcrowded, there was a lack of food, drinking water and hygiene products, and the sanitary conditions posed a danger to human health.

After the de-occupation of Kherson, law enforcement officers inspected the building of the detention center. They found numerous evidences of the torture chamber, including inscriptions on the walls, brown stains, a wooden bat, a field military phone, plastic ties and other items that could be used for illegal detention and torture.

One of the key pieces of evidence was the testimony of the victim, who confidently identified the Russian police officer as one of his perpetrators during a photo lineup. The examination also confirmed the identity of the accused and his affiliation with Russian law enforcement agencies. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the war crime.

Also at the end of May, three residents of the Kherson region, who collaborated with Russians during the occupation of Skadovsk, were found guilty of torturing civilians. According to the investigation, they held a man in an illegal torture chamber in the seized police station.

Анна Бальчінос