A Ukrainian court in Poltava found two Russian mercenaries and two soldiers guilty of violating the laws and customs of war, according to the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office. The men were found to have brutally tortured three war veterans in the village of Borova in northeastern Kharkiv Oblast.
All four fully admitted their guilt. They were sentenced to 11 years in prison with the right of appeal.
While Borova, a town near the strategic city of Izuim, was occupied over spring and summer, Russian security services passed on the information about Ukrainian war veterans. The prosecutors said that Russians were keeping captives without food and water while torturing them.
The Ukrainian military liberated Borova, Kharkiv Oblast, on Oct. 3. Borova is located east of the Oskil River.
Some 54 torture chambers have been discovered so far in territories liberated from Russian occupation, the Prosecutor General’s Office said on Dec. 23. Ukrainian veterans of Russia's war, many of whom were long retired, were often singled out for arrest and torture.
Bodies of civilians and torture chambers have been discovered in settlements all over the areas liberated by Ukrainian forces. In late October, Ukraine’s Reintegration Ministry reported that around 1,000 bodies — both military personnel and civilians, including children — had been exhumed in recently liberated settlements.
