Tortured with pliers and files: court sentences Russian military in Mykolaiv region

Two Russian soldiers were sentenced to prison terms for crimes against civilians in Mykolaiv region. They were convicted of murder and torture.

The relevant verdict was passed by the Snihurivsky District Court of Mykolaiv Oblast.

According to the investigation, the accused are soldiers from the 108th Air Assault Regiment of the Russian Airborne Forces who took part in hostilities in the Bashtanka district of Mykolaiv region in 2022 during the temporary occupation of the village of Novopetrivka.

The investigation established that on March 21, 2022, the accused, realizing that they were in an international armed conflict, illegally detained two civilians.

They used physical violence, threatened with weapons, tortured the victims with pliers and files, forced them to kneel, clamped their jaws and faces with their hands, and struck them with their feet, fists, and the butt of a rifle.

The crime of the accused was not limited to torture - during one of the episodes, the Russian military committed the intentional murder of a civilian victim (shot in the head). At the same time, another accomplice in the crimes inflicted severe bodily injuries on the victim, which caused severe physical and mental pain.

The court considered the case in the absence of the accused (in absentia).

The court found the first serviceman guilty of cruelty to civilians and premeditated murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment, and the second serviceman guilty of cruelty to civilians and sentenced him to 12 years in prison.

In addition to criminal punishment, the court satisfied the civil claims of the victims, in particular, the victims of the defendants' actions were awarded over UAH 4 million in non-pecuniary damage.

The beginning of the sentence will be counted from the moment the defendants are actually detained and the sentence is enforced.

The court also sentenced Russian military officer Dmytro Shugankov, who in 2022 tortured a woman in the temporarily occupied Snihuriv community in Mykolaiv region. The court sentenced him in absentia to 10 years in prison for violating the laws and customs of war.

Ірина Глухова