A lieutenant colonel of the Russian Federation who died in Ukraine is suspected of torturing civilians
VALENTYNA ROMANENKO — WEDNESDAY, 8 JUNE 2022, 13:55
According to the Security Service of Ukraine [SSU], the Prosecutor General's Office reported in absentia on suspicion of a lieutenant colonel of the Russian Federation, who ordered the beating and torture of Konotop [a city in Sumy Oblast] residents, and died during the war in Ukraine in March 2022.
Source: SSU department in Sumy region, the Prosecutor General's Office, Ukrainska Pravda interlocutor in law enforcement authorities
Quote from SSU: "According to the pre-trial investigation, the military commander of the garrison of the city of Samara during the temporary occupation of Konotop systematically ordered subordinates to treat the detained local residents brutally.
Several episodes of violations of the laws and customs of war committed by the orders of a lieutenant colonel of the enemy army have been documented."
Details: Law enforcement officers do not name the Russian serviceman, but according to a photo published by the Prosecutor General's Office and confirmed by the Ukrainska Pravda source in the security forces, it is a 48-year-old military commander Georgy Petrunin, who "passed [through wars in] Chechnya and Syria", but (as confirmed by Russian Media) died in Ukraine in late March 2022.
The interlocutor of Ukrainska Pravda explains that this is a jurisdictional procedure - as a legal assessment of the actions of a war criminal.
It was established that the detained locals of the city [of Konotop] were beaten, undressed and left in the cold by order of the lieutenant colonel of the Russian Federation. Residents were also threatened with execution, [Russian soldiers] demanded information about members of the Joint Forces Operation/Anti-Terrorist Operation Zone servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and places of possible storage of weapons.
According to the investigation, the lieutenant colonel of the Russian Armed Forces together with his subordinates illegally crossed the state border of Ukraine in the Sumy region.
On 25 February, 2022, at the entrance to the village of Viazove, the Russian military stopped a car at a checkpoint organised by them. Using physical force, they detained the driver and transported him to an agricultural enterprise.
There, in order to intimidate the detainee, the lieutenant colonel ordered his subordinates to shoot him. The man was forced to put off all the clothes except underwear and was held for 4-5 hours with handcuffs on his hands next to black plastic bags, which probably contained dead bodies. The temperature in the room was about 4 degrees Celsius. Then the man was released.
On 28 February, 2022, the Russian military detained two other locals who were delivering bread and used the same scheme.
The lieutenant colonel ordered his subordinates to put metal handcuffs on them and blindfold them. The men were kept at the same enterprise.
The detainees, on the instructions of the lieutenant colonel, were systematically beaten with butts of weapons. At the same time, they demanded information about civilians in Konotop with a pro-Ukrainian position, the location of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the city of Konotop and places of weapons storage. Only on 2 March, 2022, were the detainees released.