Russian Soldier Handed Ten Year Term for Torture

A Russian serviceman has been sentenced to ten years in prison for torturing a woman in a village in the Mykolaiv region.

Dmitry Shugankov served as the intelligence chief for the 2nd Self-Propelled Howitzer Artillery Battalion of the 205th Separate Motor Rifle (Cossack) Brigade of the Russian Armed Force, based in Budyonnovsk, Stavropol Krai.

He was convicted in absentia of torturing the woman, identified only as Olena K, in the village of Tamaryne in the Snihurivka community.

According to prosecutor Oleksandr Zakharchenko, on March 20, 2022, Russian servicemen occupied administrative buildings and residents’ homes in Tamaryne. They initiated so-called filtration measures aimed at locating Ukrainian military personnel and veterans of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) as well as members of the territorial defence forces and suspected artillery spotters.

According to the investigation, the defendant, along with another Russian serviceman, Alikhan Kushkhov, whose case is being tried separately and other unidentified Russian soldiers, detained Olena K.

They suspected her of having ties to the armed forces of Ukraine due to the fact that her son  is a soldier.

“The accused, armed with an assault rifle and acting in concert with others, stopped the victim and began interrogating her about her son’s military post,” the indictment read. “He then threatened to take her to a wooded area and execute her. During the interrogation, he repeatedly struck her with his hands and rifle butt and fired his weapon next to her, inflicting severe psychological trauma.”

According to the pretrial investigation, Shugankov ordered the victim to go into the yard of a private house on the street, where she was forced into a garage. She was held there for about an hour, during which she was beaten, humiliated and threatened with sexual violence.

She was then released and escorted home. Later, Olena K was forced to leave occupied territory.

At the trial, the victim testified that her son had indeed been serving in the military, but that she had had no contact with him at the time. She denied providing any information about the location of Russian troops.

The victim’s daughter, her brother and his wife were also questioned as witnesses in the case.

According to the court verdict, the victim’s brother testified that he and his wife were at home when they heard gunshots.

“We thought that Russian Federation servicemen had gotten drunk and were shooting,” he stated. The couple then went to the victim’s house where they saw Olena K detained by Russian soldiers in the courtyard.

“They said they would take her ‘to the basement’, accusing her of having a son in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and of allegedly passing him coordinates. They also threatened to execute her if there was another incoming strike,” the verdict read. The man did not witness the beating itself, learning of it later from the victim.

The victim’s sister-in-law confirmed that Russian military personnel were in the courtyard. According to her, when she asked what happened, they said they had beaten the woman for transmitting the coordinates of their positions via geolocation.

In her testimony, the victim’s daughter stated that her mother was distressed and crying.

“Members of the Russian armed forces interrogated my mother and threatened our entire family with physical harm,” she said.

According to case files, both the victim and her daughter identified the accused from one of 12 photographs presented by investigators for identification. Other witnesses also identified the defendant from a photograph, testifying during the trial that they had seen him in the village.

The court found the Olena K’s detention to be arbitrary and that she had been held against her will without any legal basis.

The verdict also stated that there was no evidence linking the victim to the armed forces of Ukraine or that suggested she was performing any tasks that could have posed a threat to the occupying forces.

The court also specifically considered the defendant’s role as a member of the Russian armed forces who illegally invaded Ukraine and took part in its occupation. In the court’s view, the soldier was fully aware he was participating in an international armed conflict and must have understood the victim’s protected status as a civilian.

“The suffering inflicted on the victim was severe and an outrage against human dignity,” the verdict noted.

The court further stressed that in the context of armed conflict and occupation, the aggressor’s methods – which included unlawful imprisonment, threats of murder and rape and repeated beatings – “undoubtedly instilled in her a fear for her life, alongside feelings of oppression and degradation”.

The verdict also specifically noted that the accused, Shugankov, was represented by a state-appointed lawyer. The court emphasised that the defence ‘”was not passive”; the lawyer participated in hearings, filed his own motions, analysed written evidence, questioned the victim and witnesses, and during closing arguments insisted that his client’s guilt had not been proven.

On December 10, after a trial that lasted just over a month, the Snihurivka district court convicted Shugankov under Part 1 of Article 438 of the criminal code of Ukraine concerning cruel treatment of the civilian population and other violations of the laws and customs of war provided for by international treaties.

The verdict has not yet come into force. It will become final after the 30-day appeal period expires. If the defence files an appeal and the verdict is upheld, the sentence will begin from the moment the defendant is detained.