Militant Sentenced for Kharkiv Rape
Prosecutor pays tribute to survivor’s courage and participation in the legal process.
Militant Sentenced for Kharkiv Rape
Prosecutor pays tribute to survivor’s courage and participation in the legal process.
A 26-year-old militant from the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for rape committed during the occupation of the Kharkiv region in April 2022.
According to the Security Service of Ukraine, which investigated the case, Maksym Lianchenko, a native of Donetsk, joined the militant group before the full-scale invasion.
In February 2022, he invaded the Kharkiv region as part of the 115th regiment of the so-called DPR – an armed formation financed, controlled and coordinated by the Russian Federation. In late March 2022, he and his accomplices occupied the small hamlet where the survivor lived with her family.
The attack took place in late April 2022, just three days before the area was liberated.
Given the sensitivity of the topic, the case was heard behind closed doors and the verdict has not been made public. The woman is still recovering from the ordeal and is receiving psychological support. To ensure her anonymity and safety, this article does not disclose the survivor’s name, the location where the rape occurred or any other details that could reveal her identity.
During the period of occupation, Russian soldiers wreaked havoc: they intimidated and beat villagers, subjected them to so-called filtration checks, conducted searches and shelled residential buildings with a tank.
On the day in question, the perpetrator, armed and wearing military uniform, forced his way into the family’s yard.
“Brandishing his weapon and making threats, he actually separated the survivor from the others and sexually assaulted her,” stated Svitlana Achkasova, a prosecutor from the Procedural Supervision and Public Prosecution Unit of the War Crimes Department of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
According to investigators, the soldier beat the woman by hitting her head against a wall, ripped off her clothing and raped her with extreme brutality. He fired his weapon into the air and continuously threatened that if he didn’t rape her, other soldiers would. He also threatened to kill her if she told anyone.
“The particular severity of this crime,” Achkasova explained, “is that in addition to the sexual assault itself, he threatened the survivor with murder, brandished his weapon and fired it near her in order to overcome her will and ensure she could not offer proper resistance.”
Although the soldier ordered the woman to remain silent, she reported the incident to Ukrainian law enforcement after her village was liberated.
“She remembered his appearance very clearly and said she would never forget him,” said Achkasova. “She could also tell by his accent that he wasn’t a Russian national, but rather a member of the proxy republic they call the DPR.”
According to the prosecutor’s office, as occupying forces retreated, they left behind troves of documents and electronic storage devices with information about their personnel at their positions and in so-called headquarters. This evidence has helped Ukrainian investigators solve numerous war crimes. The accused in this case was identified in the same way.
“By analysing captured documents and the information they contained, we identified the military units and personnel stationed there. We also utilised intelligence from the main directorate of intelligence and employed OSINT techniques. This allowed us to track down the individuals who were stationed there and belonged to the so-called DPR units,” Achkasova stated.
Lianchenko fled as the Ukrainian army approached the village, and the SSU reported that he is currently in the occupied territory of Ukraine.
According to investigators, both the survivor and witnesses of the horrific crime identified Lianchenko from a photo. Investigators charged him under Part 1 of Article 438 concerning the violation of the laws and customs of war, gathered evidence and referred the case to the court.
Lianchenko was tried in absentia – a common procedure for Russian soldiers who fled after the liberation of Ukrainian territory and failed to appear in court – and convicted on August 11.
“The notice of suspicion was published on the website of the Prosecutor General’s Office and in the Uriadovyi Kurier newspaper, ensuring nationwide dissemination,” Achkasova reported. “An arrest warrant was then issued [in absentia]. He was repeatedly summoned by the pre-trial investigation body through a formal public notification process, but he ignored the summonses. This provided the legal grounds to request a special pre-trial investigation, which allows us to prosecute an individual who is evading justice, is a wanted fugitive and is located in the territory of the aggressor state or in an occupied territory.”
Lianchenko was represented by a free legal aid defender.
“It is unknown whether he pleaded guilty,” the prosecutor said, “it was not possible to make contact with him.”
Lianchenko’s defence has 30 days to appeal the verdict. If no appeal is filed, the court’s decision will come into force and his sentence will begin from the moment he is detained.
The prosecutor’s representative stated that in absentia verdicts help deliver justice for both the survivors and society.
“We would prefer it to be different – for them to be arrested and face real punishment,” Achkasova said. “But this ruling also has a preventative effect, because when individuals are punished, word of it spreads there as well [in enemy territory]. This acts as a deterrent. Perhaps it will stop someone else.”
Achkasova paid tribute to the courage of the survivor and her participation in the legal process.
“Despite the ordeal she went through, the survivor repeatedly appeared in court to testify,” Achkasova said. “She is still grappling with what happened, receiving psychological support and planning to undergo rehabilitation.”
The prosecutor noted that survivors of sexual violence were provided with psychological care from highly qualified specialists.
“This provides a path to recovery and healing,” she continued.“We have partner organisations that provide rehabilitation, allowing survivors to go to places like the Ivano-Frankivsk region. There, they can recover, staying in women-only spaces, working with specialists and medical professionals if necessary.”
According to the prosecutor, authorities have confirmed about 30 cases of rape committed by occupying forces in the Kharkiv region alone, with survivors ranging from a 19-year-old to a 75-year-old woman. She noted that this figure only represents the incidents where survivors have dared to speak out and criminal investigations have been launched. Two cases have ended in convictions and four are currently proceeding through the courts.
“There are cases where we know an incident occurred, but the person tells us, ‘I'm not ready’. We do not proceed in those situations,” the prosecutor’s office representative said. “We never force the process, of course. We wait and only begin our work when the person is willing.”
