FSB Officer Convicted for Abduction and Torture
Crimes carried out as part of a “search and destroy” operation to dismantle the Ukrainian authorities.
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Serviceman staged mock execution as well as robbing and abusing villagers.
A Russian intelligence officer has been sentenced to 12 years in absentia for the abduction and torture of a civilian during the occupation of Kherson.
The Odesa court found Yuriy Belyatsky guilty of violating the laws and customs of war concerning the cruel treatment of civilians.
According to the investigation, Belyatsky - an officer with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) - was conducting a “search and destroy” operation in Kherson to dismantle Ukrainian authorities and establish the illegitimate rule of the Russian Federation.
Belyatsky serves in the 9th Directorate of the Department of Operational Information of the FSB’s 5th Service.
Investigators established that under Belyatsky’s command and with his participation, Russian military and FSB personnel detained civilians in torture chambers and subjected them to beatings, death threats and mock executions. The victims were interrogated and coerced into collaboration.
The trial focused on the case of a Kherson resident abducted in March 2022. The court heard that he worked as a head of a recruitment department, and while his occupation was not specified, he is believed to have been employed by Ukraine’s Territorial Defence Forces
Following orders from his superiors as occupation forces entered the city, the man had removed his uniform, secured his weapon and was sheltering in a safe location. Under international humanitarian law, a combatant who has laid down their arms and is not participating in hostilities gains the status of a civilian and is not a legitimate military target.
On March 31, 2022, at 1pm, Russian soldiers arrived at the man’s home and warned his wife that unless he returned home, he would never see his family again.
On his return, the victim was stopped and searched at gunpoint by Russian soldiers who then escorted him to his apartment.
Once there, he discovered that his home had been ransacked and goods stolen including 5,000 US dollars and 1,000 euros in cash as well as a coffee machine, a camera, laptops, a bicycle and other items.
The victim was greeted by Belyatsky who introduced himself as the group’s leader and assured him there was nothing to worry about.
“The FSB will just ask a few questions and that’s it,” he was told.
However, the man’s responses did not satisfy Belyatsky and he ordered a soldier standing nearby to “explain to him how he needs to answer” .
The serviceman then began beating the victim with his hands and the butt of his rifle. The soldier was wearing gauntlets with hard plastic knuckles.
Belyatsky then ordered the Kherson resident to be taken to another location, “somewhere he’ll tell us everything”.
The man’s hands were bound so tightly that the blood flow was cut off. To this day, he still suffers from numbness in them.
He was driven to a building where the interrogation and severe beatings continued. The Russian servicemen threatened him and his family with violence, staging two mock executions. After this, Belyatsky asked him to write a statement agreeing to cooperate with the FSB. It was this act that allowed the victim to survive and be released.
Upon returning home, the man was deeply traumatised and immediately disclosed the situation to his supervisor and an SBU representative. An operation was then launched to evacuate him and his family from occupied Kherson. Their escape was hampered by ongoing fighting, but he successfully fled the city.
Once in hiding, he changed locations several times. Nonetheless, Belyatsky tried to contact him, calling his mobile phone, and an another occassion unknown individuals tried to attack him.
“Elimination of Ukrainians”
According to the court, it was initially difficult to identify the individual who ordered the abduction and torture. After a detailed interview with the victim, the SBU’s military counterintelligence reconstructed the timeline of events, created a composite sketch of the group’s leader and subsequently identified him as FSB officer Belyatsky.
In April 2023, he was notified in absentia of suspicion for violating the laws and customs of war.
The court repeatedly summoned Belyatsky, including through official notices and electronic communication channels, but he deliberately ignored proceedings. The court ruled it was possible to issue a verdict in his absence.
At the end of June, the indictment was sent to the Khadzhybei district court of Odesa. The suspect is currently in Russia.
“Yury Belyatsky is not an ordinary citizen who accidentally found himself in difficult circumstances that led to breaking the law,” the judge explained. “He is a professional agent of a special state service. With his physical training and intellectual capabilities, his task during the occupation of Ukraine was to gather, research and study information about Ukrainians, including the elimination of Ukrainian citizens who were unwilling to cooperate with the Russian Federation.”
The defendant’s guilt was fully proven in court. Two witnesses provided a physical description of the FSB officer they had seen during a conversation with the victim. The victim also identified the officer in recent photos, which were admitted into evidence at the judge’s direction during the trial.
During closing arguments, the defence attorney contested the charges, arguing that Yuriy Belyatsky’s guilt had not been proven and that the photos submitted as evidence depicted different people.
The court rejected these arguments and asserted that the trial was conducted without prejudice towards the defendant, evidenced by the lengthy trial, the efforts to provide the defence with every procedural opportunity, the repeated notifications of court hearings and the thorough examination of each piece of evidence.
The judge emphasised that “the motive for the crime was a combination of factors: the need to curry favour, the desire to please superiors; hatred linked to a desire to destroy the Ukrainian nation and its statehood; and a sense of superiority and exceptionalism of his own Moscow nationality.”
Belyatsky’s sentence will begin upon his arrest. He still has the right to appeal.
