Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) charged in absentia three Russian officials with charges related to organizing the round up and torture of civilians in occupied Berdiansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the agency announced on Aug. 29.
According to investigators, Russian Colonel Oleksandr Korneev, the occupation authority's Deputy Prosecutor Yevhen Svistunov, and the occupation authority's Lead Investigator Denys Shekhovets allegedly organized raids by the Russian Armed Forces to abduct residents and pro-Ukrainian collaborators in the occupied city.
The abducted Berdiansk residents would then be subject to torture using electric current, while being left without food and water for long periods of time, the SBU said, in an attempt to entice the victims to collaborate with Russian Armed Forces.
The three accused officials allegedly personally participated in the raids of local home looking for the pro-Ukrainian dissidents.
The accused were charged in absentia under Ukraine's Criminal Code for "violation of the laws and customs of war."
Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly targeted those accused of torturing civilians in the region. On May 5, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency confirmed that a car bomb explosion in occupied Berdiansk killed a Russian official allegedly responsible for setting up torture chambers in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Ukraine has registered pre-trial information of at least 128,000 victims of alleged Russian war crimes, the Prosecutor General's Office in mid-March. These include deliberate attacks on civilians, attacks on cultural sites or medical institutions, torture, and deportations.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
(Updated: )
