Russians send bodies of teenagers killed in Berdiansk "for examination"

Russian "authorities" sent the bodies of teenagers Tihran Ohannisian and Mykyta Khanhanov, killed in Berdiansk, to Melitopol "for examination"; there is a possibility that they are trying to hide the traces of the crime.

Source: Olha Reshetylova, coordinator of the Media Initiative for Human Rights, on Facebook

Quote: "Despite the fact that the final farewell to Tihran and Mykyta was planned in Berdiansk yesterday, they have not yet been buried.

Throughout yesterday, families waited for permission from investigators to pick up the bodies from the morgue, but they never received it. Instead, the morgue was surrounded by soldiers all day.

Today it was revealed that the bodies were allegedly taken for examination to Melitopol."

Details: The Media Initiative for Human Rights believes that the Russians are doing this to hide the traces of their crimes.

"By the nature of the lesions, it is obvious that a murder was committed and that the boys were shot at with the aim to kill," Reshetylova emphasises.

She added that the Russian invaders will not be able to hide anything because "everything is known and everything is recorded".

"Just let the families say goodbye to their children," she said.

Earlier, Ukrainska Pravda discovered that Russian "authorities" in occupied Berdiansk do not give the relatives of Tihran Ohannisian and Mykyta Khanhanov a certificate of permission for burial, which makes it impossible to pick up their bodies from the morgue and bury them.

The invaders did not even let the grandmother of Tihran Ohannisian identify the body of her grandson. Only the relatives of the second murdered teenager, Mykyta Khanhanov, could see the deceased boys; they identified both of them.

Background: 

• Tihran Ohannisian and Mykyta Khanhanov were active participants in anti-Russian internet organisations.
• On 30 September 2022, the Russian military kidnapped 16-year old Tihran Ohannisian, who lived with his grandmother in temporarily occupied Berdiansk. During interrogations, the Russians tortured the teenager, but on 5 October, they suddenly released him. Since then, the invaders regularly interrogated and searched Tihran Ohannisian and his classmate Mykyta Khanhanov.
• In January 2023, the Russian military prevented Tihran and his parents from leaving the temporarily occupied territory.
• On 7 April, Tihran and Mykyta Khanhanov were taken by the Russian military to the Russian Federation in the city of Rostov-on-Don to undergo a psychological and psychiatric examination.
• On 24 May, Tihran Ohannisian and Mykyta Khanhanov received accusations from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation of allegedly preparing sabotage on the railway. The case was prepared for trial, and the Russian Federation planned to sentence the boys to 20 years in prison.
• On 15 June, the European Parliament adopted a resolution demanding that Russia stop persecuting Tihran Ohannisian and Mykyta Khanhanov and release them into the territory controlled by Ukraine.
• On 24 June, Russian propagandists reported that "as a result of a coordinated operation, law enforcement officers eliminated two pro-Ukrainian terrorists".

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