26 January 2026
(A torture chamber. PHOTO: npu.gov.ua)
Another representative of the Russian special services involved in the torture of civilians will be tried in Kherson region. The pre-trial investigation of the war crime has been completed, and the indictment has been sent to court.
This was reported by the press service of the National Police in Kherson region.
The defendant in the case is a 45-year-old Russian FSB officer who works in the 9th Directorate of the Operational Information Department of the 5th Service. According to the police, in the spring of 2022, on his orders, a civilian resident of the Skadovsk district was tortured and threatened with death.
According to Ihor Demianiuk, Head of the Department for Investigation of Crimes in the Conditions of Armed Conflict of the Kherson Region Investigation Department, on April 10, 2022, Russian military conducted a search in the house of a 41-year-old resident of Mykhailivka, after which they detained him and took him to a sanatorium in Lazurne. There, the defendant was interrogated in order to obtain information about local volunteers, fundraising, and weapons possession.
Having not received the desired answers, the FSB officer ordered the Russian military to use physical violence: the victim was beaten, imitated an execution, a bag was put over his head, air was cut off, gunshot wounds were inflicted and he was held without underwear. In the evening of the same day, the man was released home.
In December last year, the police notified the defendant in absentia of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - cruel treatment of civilians and other violations of the laws and customs of war committed by prior conspiracy. The regional prosecutor 's office ensured the collection of evidence to bring the case to court.
The press service noted that on January 6 this year, the same FSB officer was already sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison for another war crime.
Also in January, a former law enforcement officer who joined the enemy was sentenced in Kherson. He was accused of defecting to the enemy and torturing detainees during the occupation of the city.
Анна Бальчінос