Russian POW to be Tried in Closed Court
Hearings to be held in private due to threats against defence lawyer and concerns over prisoner’s rights.
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Russian Soldier To Face Trial for Murdering Supermarket Guard
Case will proceed after Kyiv court of appeal accepts prosecutor's objections over procedural shortcomings.
The Irpin city court of the Kyiv region has agreed to hold the upcoming murder trial of a Russian prisoner of war in closed session to respect the rights of the defendant and prevent any “illegal pressure” on his lawyer.
Nikolai Kartashev, 22, has been in Ukrainian custody for two years. His defence attorney told the court that media reporting of the case had led to threats on his own life and further argued that his client’s status as a prisoner of war meant that he could not be photographed or filmed.
Kartashev, from the Rostov region of the Russian Federation, was a member of the 76th Airborne Assault Division stationed in Pskov. Serving as the senior gunner of a self-propelled artillery installation, he was among troops which captured Bucha, near Kyiv, at the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In December 2022, Kartashev was tried in Russia for desertion. Russian media reported that he had returned from the combat zone without permission, gone home to the Rostov region, and twice failed to report to the military unit. The court gave him a one-year suspended sentence, and he was again sent to fight in Ukraine,. He was captured in February 2023 in the Kharkiv region.
Six months later Ukrainian police investigators reported a suspicion against Kartashev in relation to an incident on February 27, 2022 in Bucha. As a column of Russian military was moving along Bucha’s Vokzalnaya street, a senior radio officer gave the order to shoot all people wearing black clothes. This violated one of the basic principles of international humanitarian law, the principle of distinction between combatants who are directly participating in hostilities and civilians.
According to the prosecution, Kartashev - together with four accomplices - opened fire with Kalashnikov assault rifles at 25-year-old Valery K, an unarmed security guard at a local supermarket who was wearing a black service uniform.
The prisoner of war confirmed the circumstances of the crime at an investigative experiment in Bucha during the pre-trial investigation.
“When you were driving [in the convoy], did you receive any orders from your leadership?” the investigator asked in a video released by the Ukrainian police.
“Yes, those in black are the enemies,” Kartashev responded.
“Did you carry out this order or not?” the investigator continued.
“Yes,” the accused answered. “When we stopped here, a man in black clothes was running near Novus [the supermarket],”
Kartashev added that he had opened fire with an automatic rifle.
The wounded security guard managed to reach the supermarket’s basement, where store employees were hiding, but died there.
Kartashev’s case was sent to court in autumn 2023. A procedural dispute arose at the preparatory meeting and six months later, after the prosecutor’s appeal, the case was returned to the Irpin court.
In January 2025, the case was heard from the beginning because there was a change in the panel of judges and the new judge was not familiar with the case materials. The defendant also had a new defence attorney. The prosecutor read the indictment again and Kartashev said that he pleaded guilty but refused to testify.
At the March 17, 2025 hearing, the defendant’s new defence attorney, from the free legal aid centre, requested that the case be considered in closed format due to harassment that he had been experiencing.
According to the Ukrainian register of court decisions, the lawyer, who asked to remain anonymous, said that due to media reporting of the case “he became concerned for his own life and health and the life and health of his family members”.
“Since there is a tendency in Ukraine to associate lawyers with their clients, due to the presence of a number of media publications about this case, he [the defence attorney] receives phone calls from unknown persons asking for information on the case, including the defendant’s personal information, and sometimes even threats to his life and health,” the register of court decisions quoted him as saying. There were no further details about the threats or their content.
The defence attorney also argued that the defendant’s status as a prisoner of war meant that he could not be photographed or filmed.
The photos and videos featuring Kartashev that have appeared in the Ukrainian media, the defence lawyer argued, were a violation of the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war, who must be protected from insults and public curiosity.
Kartashev supported his defence attorney’s position.
The prosecutor said that he would not object if the motion was justified by a threat to the life and health of the defendant or his attorney.
The court decided that as Kartashev's personal data and the defence position might be revealed during the consideration of the case, it would close the hearing to the public in order to ensure and respect the rights of the defendant.
"In order to prevent any illegal pressure and influence on the defence attorney by third parties, the court concluded that the defence attorney's motion must be granted,” the court ruling additionally stated.
The case will now be considered behind closed doors until the verdict is announced.
The court is currently examining the evidence, then will proceed to question witnesses and finally the accused. The next hearing, already closed to the press, is scheduled for April 22.
If found guilty under 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, combined with premeditated murder, Kartashev faces ten to 15 years in prison or life imprisonment.
