Suspects, accused of torturing 16-year-old during occupation of Kharkiv region, identified

Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General reported the information.

On August 15, 2022, in a Kupyansk district settlement, a 16-year-old boy was on his way home when a car approached him. Three armed men, clad in military uniforms, emerged from the vehicle.

They forced the boy into the car and took him to a torture chamber set up in the premises of the Kupiyansk district police department. The victim was held there for 16 days. 

According to the investigation, the suspects tortured and abused the teenager: they put a gas mask on his head to block his airways, forced him to squat and do push-ups. The perpetrators also systematically beat the boy, hardly fed him, and gave him industrial water instead of drinking water. 

Additionally, they forced the teenager to clear rubble resulting from shelling by Russian armed forces and to wash cars belonging to the Russian military.

Through such brutal actions, the suspects tried to obtain information from the 16-year-old about pro-Ukrainian citizens and ATO/JFO servicemen, involved in counteracting the activities of illegal Russian and pro-Russian armed groups in the war in eastern Ukraine during 2014-2022, located in the Kupyansk district.

Furthermore, amidst the Russian occupation of the community, one of the suspects assumed the role of the self-proclaimed deputy head of the criminal investigation department within the "Department of Internal Affairs of the temporary administration of the Kharkiv region."

Another suspect took up the pseudo-position of acting assistant district police inspector of the department of district police inspectors.

All three residents received suspicion notices for violating the laws and customs of war, with two of them additionally charged with collaboration. The decision to include the suspects on the wanted list is currently under consideration.

Note: according to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be criminally punished until his or her guilt is proved in accordance with the law and established by a court verdict.

• Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine identified 5 more Russian servicemen who tortured civilians during the occupation of the Sumy region.