Russian Soldiers Face Trial For Murder of Farmworker
The pensioner, according to the investigation, had asked his assailants not to scare his livestock.
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Russian Soldiers Face Trial For Murder of Farmworker
The pensioner, according to the investigation, had asked his assailants not to scare his livestock.
Three Russian soldiers have been indicted in connection with the murder of a farm worker who they allegedly targeted after he asked them not to shoot at his cattle.
Kharkiv prosecutors sent an indictment to the court in the case of Ramazan Omarov, 33, Alkhas Rasulov, 23 and 25-year-old Rajab Nasrydynov. The three soldiers, all originally from Dagestan, serve in military unit No 54096 of the Russian armed forces, stationed in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
Omarov is accused of murdering the farm worker in conspiracy with a group of persons (Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 438 of the criminal code of Ukraine concerning the violation of the laws and customs of war). The other two are accused of aiding and abetting this crime (Part 5 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 438 of the criminal code of Ukraine).
According to the investigation, they were among the Russian soldiers who occupied the village of Makarove and nearby settlements in the Kharkiv region. Makarove, located ten kilometres from the border with Russia, was occupied for five months from April to September 2022.
After they were liberated, local residents told journalists from the Suspilne outlet that about ten residents had been killed by the Russian military during the occupation, as a result of sniper fire or blown up by mines. An employee of a local farm was among the dead.
"A Russian sniper killed a person here,” district chief Valeriya Agaeva, the head of the district, told Suspilne in January 2023. “The elderly man was a worker at a local farm. He was going to work - he was shot. The family buried him in the yard. After the liberation of the village and the exhumation of the body, the man was transported and buried in Zolochiv [a village 15 kilometers away]," said.
She added that more than 250 people had lived in Makarove before the occupation, with after 150 left after liberation. A few months later, only 95 remained, the rest having abandoned the village because of fear and its proximity to the border with Russia.
According to the pre-trial investigation, the deceased farm worker was 68 years old. He worked both as a security guard and took care of cattle.
On May 3, 2022, Omarov, Rasulov, and Nasridinov came to the Niva farm. Their military unit was based in the occupied village of Kozacha Lopan, eight kilometres from Makarove.
According to the investigation, the Russian soldiers started firing their guns at the cattle. In response, the guard warned them that shots near the herd scared the animals.
The Russian soldiers were indignant, got into an argument, but left the farm. A few days later, on May 5, they again arrived in Makarove. On the street that led to the farm, the soldiers saw the victim on his way to work. According to the in absentia suspicion to them, the Russians had a plan to take revenge.
Deputy platoon commander Omarov, according to the investigation, got out of his vehicle and fired two shots into the pensioner's back. Nasridinov and Rasulov were nearby and were watching to make sure there were no witnesses.
The farm worker died on the spot from a chest wound.
The Russian soldiers drove up to the deceased, got and began kicking the body to check if he was really dead. Convinced that their joint plan had been implemented, they left the scene of the crime.
Kharkiv police investigators informed Omarov, Rasulov and Nasridinov of absentee suspicions in February of this year. According to their information, the three men were hiding in the Russian Federation during the pre-trial investigation. They did not appear when summoned.
The Russian servicemen were declared wanted and been appointed defence attorneys from the Centre for Free Legal Aid ahead of their trial at the Dergachy district court of the Kharkiv region. Omarov, Rasulov and Nasrydynov will now be summoned to court, as required by Ukrainian criminal law, and if they fail to appear at the preliminary hearing three times, the prosecutor's office will be able to request a special trial in their absence.
The first meeting in this case is scheduled for April 30. If found guilty, the Russian soldeirs face ten to 15 years in prison or life imprisonment.
