De Facto Police Chief Sentenced for Torture in Kharkiv Region
Investigation found that indictee had lived in the area for several years and therefore knew many of the locals.
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Former Ukrainian Police Officer Sentenced for War Crimes
He was found guilty of the cruel treatment of civilians as well as unlawful imprisonment and pillage.
A Russian citizen acting as “police chief” for the occupation authorities has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for brutalising villagers in the Kharkiv region.
Vladimir Samoilov, a Russian citizen originally from Belgorod, was convicted of abuses including beating victims with a taser and a wooden mallet as well as so-called waterboarding, in which water is poured continuously onto a towel over a person’s face, simulating the feeling of drowning.
The court heard how, on the first day of the full-scale invasion, the Russian army occupied the Lyptsi community on the border of the Kharkiv region. Russian forces positioned rocket launchers between civilian homes so as to shell Saltivka, a northern district of Kharkiv.
The occupying forces unleashed a reign of terror in the border villages, which law enforcement officers began to document even before the area was liberated on September 11, 2022. Those who managed to escape the occupation spoke of the brutal abuse of civilians.
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) investigators subsequently established that villagers were tormented by an entire gang led by Samoilov, who acted as a de facto policeman. It was also established that he personally tortured the prisoners.
The investigation found that Samoilov had lived in the local village of Strilecha periodically for ten years and therefore knew many of the villagers.
Vladyslav Abdula, spokesman for the SBU in the Kharkiv region, said that, along with other Russians, Samoilov “tortured the civilian population, trying to force them to cooperate with the occupation authorities and to ‘beat out’ information about the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“The invaders forcibly detained local residents and took them to the torture chamber they had set up”.
According to investigators, on March 13, 2022, Russian forces broke into the home of a 52-year-old man, identified only as Mr D, in the village of Strilecha. They bound and hooded him and after searching his house, transported him to a torture chamber in Hoptivka where he was questioned about the locations of Ukrainian defence forces. In an attempt to extract this information, three Russian soldiers tortured Mr D with a taser as well as using rubber truncheons and a wet towel to beat him on his legs, back and kidney area.
Among his captors, D recognised Samoilov, a man he had known for over ten years. He first identified Samoilov by his voice and later visually when the bag was removed from his head.
“V Samoilov directly struck the victim on the head and body with a wooden mallet,” the notice of suspicion against him stated. “He also poured water over a towel placed on Mr D’s face, blocking his ability to breathe. After the beating, the bag was removed from Mr D’s head and he confirmed that among the individuals interrogating and torturing him was indeed Samoilov, who demanded to be called ‘Captain’.”
According to the investigation, the man was held in a basement with other prisoners and without access to a toilet. Water was scarce, and they were given food scraps thrown directly onto the floor.
Another victim cited in the case against Samoilov was a man identified only Mr O. On March 14, 2022, the 59-year-old was walking to a friend’s house when he was detained.
“V Samoilov personally conducted the detention [of Mr O], forcing his hands behind his back, binding them with zip ties, pulling a hat down over his eyes and wrapping his head with tape,” the notice of suspicion stated. “He was put into a vehicle and taken to a specially equipped torture chamber on the territory of the Hoptivka border checkpoint.”
There the man was interrogated and offered a chance to work for the occupation authorities by informing on Ukrainian veterans and military positions.
“After each answer, V Samoilov would strike Mr O with a wooden mallet on his arms and legs, aiming for the muscles,” the indictment read. “To intensify the effect and break his psychological resistance, Samoilov would cover the victim’s head with a towel and pour water on it, blocking his access to oxygen and causing suffocation. Samoilov cynically called this torture a ‘bath day’.”
These interrogations continued daily for ten days. Mr O was only released after, fearing for the lives of his family, he agreed to work as a driver for the occupation authorities.
The occupiers also tormented an elderly man suffering from cancer.
“It has been established that one of the victims of the Russian servicemen was a man suffering from late-stage cancer,” the Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s office reported. “The suspect, with complete disregard for the man’s condition, beat him nearly to death in an attempt to 'beat out' information about the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This hatred for the victim was caused by the fact that his son is a Ukrainian serviceman.”
Another detainee recalled this incident in testimony cited in the court verdict.
“[The victim’s] fingers were wrapped in electrical tape; they were blue, so they tried to rub them,” the witness said. “Then they took him for interrogation and we could hear them beating him. I saw his injuries; they tortured him with a taser. [The victim] had cancer and needed to eat something every 2-3 hours, but he had no such opportunity. He was also denied any medication. These conditions of detention negatively impacted his health. Then he was taken away somewhere; they said to Belgorod.”
Another victim was a man identified as 68-year-old Mr S. On August 14, 2022, approximately 15 Russian fighters arrived in an armoured personnel carrier at his home in Lyptsi. They bound his hands behind his back, hooded him and took him to a torture chamber in the basement of an apartment building in Strilecha. Investigators state that in this chamber Samoilov personally guarded the detainees and regularly abused them.
“On one of the days (the exact date was not established during the pre-trial investigation) between August 14, 2022 and September 12, 2022 V.= Samoilov ran into the cell and began striking Mr S with a rubber truncheon because he had called representatives of the Luhansk People’s Republic (‘LPR’) ‘Gestapo agents’,” the indictment read.
As Samoilov had lived in the area, he could identify pro-Ukrainian residents and military veterans not only in his own village but in neighbouring ones as well. The investigation found that this was why occupying administration appointed him as a de facto policeman, with his specific role as the chief of the so-called district officers for the occupied Lyptsi community.
During the counteroffensive by the armed forces of Ukraine, Samoilov managed to escape to Russian territory and was therefore charged in absentia.
Samoilov was tried at the Derhachi district court of the Kharkiv Region, the notice of suspicion and court summons having been published on the official website of the prosecutor general’s office and in the Uriadovyi Kurier newspaper. In accordance with the requirements for a fair trial in absentia, Samoilov was appointed a state-funded public defender. The court examined the evidence, questioned witnesses and victims, and heard the defence’s arguments before finding the prosecution’s evidence admissible and sufficient.
“All of the evidence presented and examined during the trial was deemed relevant and admissible by the court,” the verdict stated. “The court rejected the defence’s argument that the crime committed by Samoilov had not been proven as it has been established that the defendant conspired with others to inflict cruel treatment upon the victims.”
Samoilov and his lawyer have 30 days to file an appeal from the date of the sentencing on December 2, 2025. If they do not, the sentence will come into force once the appeal period expires.
