Russian serviceman captured residents of Mykolaiv region and tortured them

A Russian artillery platoon commander has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the abduction and torture of civilians on the Kinburn Peninsula. Among the victims are a man and a woman who were taken to the occupied Kherson region, where they were kept in inhumane conditions.

This was reported by the press service of the Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor's Office.

Following a public prosecution by law enforcement officers, the court found the commander of an artillery platoon of the so-called Don Cossack Brigade of the Russian Federation illegal armed group guilty of violating the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and sentenced him to 12 years in prison.

According to the investigation, during the temporary occupation of the Kinburn Peninsula, the serviceman ordered his subordinates to detain local residents, who were subsequently taken to the temporarily occupied territory of Kherson region, where they were subjected to violence and torture.

In particular, on August 23, 2022, the commander, along with other Russian military personnel, arrived at the house of a resident of Vasylivka village. They broke into the house, tied the man up, wrapped his head with ropes and rags, and put him in the back of a truck. He was then taken to the Kherson region, where he was held captive for at least a week, tortured, and later left near Kherson without documents or clothing.

In early September 2022, the same serviceman ordered the detention of a local woman. The woman was wrapped in a towel, handcuffed and taken to the village of Pokrovka. There, she was handcuffed to a chair at night and transported to Kherson region in the trunk of a car in the morning. She was held in unsuitable conditions without food and water for seven days, threatened, and later dumped near the village of Pokrovka.

Also, three Russian militants received sentences in absentia - up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property - for setting up a torture chamber and torturing civilians in the Mykolaiv region in 2022. According to the investigation, they set up a torture chamber in a private house in the village of Oleksandrivka, where they illegally detained and tortured at least four men along with other occupants.

Анна Бальчінос