Prosecutors in the Kharkiv region will convict three rapists in absentia

Three rioters raped a girl last spring during the occupation of one from the settlements of the Kharkiv Region. “The accused will be tried in absentia in the Dzerzhinsky District Court of Kharkiv,” the press service of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office reports. According to the investigation, the crime was committed by a 43-year-old colonel, commander of the 99 of the Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Motorized Rifle Division of the 20th Combined Arms Army of the Western Military District of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and two of his subordinates: a 20-year-old private who was a driver, and a 24-year-old junior sergeant, commander of a command combat vehicle unit.

Last year, the occupiers came to the house where the girl and her family lived. They ordered the girl's relatives to stay at home, and they forcibly put the victim in an armored personnel carrier and took her to one of the houses, where the commander was waiting for them. When they arrived at the house where the commander was staying, the occupants took turns raping the victim. At the same time, the Russian commander told his subordinates that he would do it first.

After the deoccupation, the victim turned to the law enforcement authorities with the aim of bringing the rapists to justice. In April of this year, Ukrainian law enforcement officers managed to identify them.

All three Russian servicemen are accused of violating the laws and customs of war, committed by a group of persons based on a prior conspiracy (Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ).

Prepared by: Nina Petrovych