With the support of the public prosecution, prosecutors from the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office found a citizen of the Russian Federation guilty of cruel treatment of the civilian population during the temporary occupation of the Kharkiv region and sentenced him to 12 years of imprisonment.

The convicted individual is a native of the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation. Before the full-scale invasion, he lived in the village of Strilecha in the Kharkiv district.

Since March 2022, the man served as the head of the so-called "people's police" of the occupation administration in the territory of the Lypetska community. He held the position of "district chief."

Together with Russian soldiers, he detained local residents. People were forcibly taken to premises adapted as torture chambers. These were set up in the buildings of the MPP "Hoptivka" and in the basement of a multi-story building in the village of Strilecha.

The convicted individual participated in the interrogation of civilians. He forced people to cooperate with the occupation authorities. The goal was to obtain information about the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, ATO veterans, and law enforcement officers.

In case of refusal, he used violence. He beat them with rubber batons. He tortured them with electric shocks. He struck them with a wooden hammer. He also restricted the victims' access to air by pouring water on their faces through fabric.

He forced the detainees to participate in humiliating acts. He prohibited them from using the toilet. He kept people in inhumane conditions and fed them leftovers from Russian soldiers.

Among the victims was a seriously ill man with cancer. The convicted individual brutally beat him. The reason was that the victim's son serves in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In 2023, he was notified of suspicion of violating the laws and customs of war, after which the case was sent to court, which in absentia found him guilty of cruel treatment of the civilian population, committed by a group of individuals in conspiracy (part 2 of article 28, part 1 of article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine as amended in 2022). He was sentenced to the harshest punishment provided by the article's sanction - 12 years of imprisonment.

The time for appeal is ongoing.

Since the convicted individual is hiding from Ukrainian justice on the territory of the Russian Federation, the term of punishment will be calculated from the moment of his actual detention.

As long as he evades punishment, the statute of limitations is suspended. The convicted individual is wanted.

The pre-trial investigation was conducted by investigators from the SBU in the Kharkiv region. Operational support was provided by employees of the military counterintelligence of the SBU.