Captured Russian Paratrooper to be Tried for Irpin War Crimes

Iryna Domashchenko

Kyiv-based IWPR's court reporter

Tuesday, 18 April, 2023

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The city court in Irpin, in Kyiv region, postponed its preliminary hearing against Andrey captured Russian paratrooper Medvedev due to the absence of a defence lawyer. 

The attorney appointed via the centre of free legal aid in Kyiv asked to be relieved of his duties to defend Medvedev at the April 10 hearing. The lawyer stated that Irpin did not fall under his jurisdiction, which was limited to Kyiv city.  

Medvedev and his commander, whose whereabouts are unknown, were indicted by Ukrainian investigators under Part 1 of Article 438 and Part 2 of Article 28 of the criminal code of Ukraine for violating the laws and customs of war by a group of people. They are accused of abusing local residents, beating them, using physical violence and simulating their execution during the occupation of Irpin, a town about 25 kilometres west of the capital, in March 2022. Medvedev‘s commander will be tried in absentia.

Born in Matino, a village in Russia’s western region of Tver, 33-year-old corporal Medvedev is a resident of Pskov, a north-western city near the border with Estonia, and a senior scout in the 104th regiment of the Pskov 76th Guards Airborne Assault Division.

In March 2022, Pskov paratroopers, including Medvedev, operated near the capital. They have been accused of numerous atrocities in Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel. 

According to the prosecution, the Russian military men set up their headquarters in a private house. There, Medvedev and his commander interrogated civilians, beat them and staged mock executions. Three civilians are named as victims in the case against both Russian servicemen. 

After Russian troops retreated from Irpin on March 28, 2022, Medvedev reached the southern Kherson region through Belarus, Russia and Ukraine’s Donetsk region. There he was wounded and captured during a reconnaissance operation by his unit.

During an exchange with journalists in the courtroom on April 10, Medvedev said that he believed that his comrades left him because they thought he was dead. 

“I was wounded, I ran away from your soldiers [Ukrainian] for five days," the corporal told reporters, adding that he did not know near which settlement in the Kherson region he was captured. He also denied statements by Ukrainian law enforcement officers that he had fought in Syria and in eastern Ukraine’s regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

In the courtroom, Medvedev sat in a glass and metal booth, wearing a green jacket and leaning on a crutch to support himself as his left leg was wounded when he was captured. 

Oleksandr Petrenko, one of the victims who was present at the hearing, approached him to talk before the court convened.

“I still want to ask: has anything changed in you, no?” Petrenko asked.

“Why do you ask?” Medvedev replied.

“I'm just curious: you came to Ukraine…” Petrenko continued.

“I may not answer your question,” Medvedev concluded.

Petrenko was one of two civilians whom the accused and his commander found after breaking into a house in Irpin. He told investigators that he had tried to prove to the servicemen that he and his companion were civilians, but they were nontheless beaten. The Russians also staged their mock execution by shooting above their heads.

“He kicked me... I got up,” Petrenko told investigators in a video. “He saw that I had thermal underwear like the armed forces of Ukraine. He put a gun to my head and said: do you serve in the Armed Forces? I say: no. I closed my eyes, I was stunned, he shot past [me].”

Then the Russian put a machine gun to his back and took him out into the street, where they beat him again and simulated a shooting. In the video, Medvedev admits he was one of the shooters after being asked twice. 

During the hearing, Medvedev asked if he could be tried without a defence lawyer. However, Ukrainian legislation mandates the presence of a lawyer for offences that merit punishments of more than ten years. If convicted, the paratrooper, who is currently in Kyiv’s pre-trial detention centre, could be imprisoned for up to 12 years. 

The indictment against the Russian was sent to Irpin court for territorial jurisdiction, as that is where the crime was committed. 

The court has now appointed a new defence attorney; the prosecutor granted the new lawyer’s request to extend Medvedev’s pre-trial detention for an additional 60 days, until and including June 8. The next attempt to hold a preliminary hearing in the Medvedev case should take place in May.

According to prosecutors, a separate case of suspected war crimes committed by him is being prepared for submission to the court.