Two Izyum Murder Cases Combined in One Proceeding

Yuriy Larin in Ukraine

Court reporter

Tuesday, 18 February, 2025

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A Russian soldier has been indicted in two separate cases of murder in the city of Izyum in Kharkhiv region.

Prosecutors allege that Ahmed Duduyev was involved in the murder of Ukrainian pathologist Fedir Zdebskyi from the city of Izyum in Kharkiv oblast. Zdebskyi's body has never been found.

He has also been named in the case of Izyum entrepreneur Oleh Salyha, whose body was later found in a mass grave.

Since the same panel of judges will hear both cases, the decision was taken to consolidate the two indictments into a single proceeding at the Dzerzhynskyi district court of Kharkiv.

Duduyev, a 28-year-old citizen of the Russian Federation, originally from the city of Khasavyurt, Dagestan, was identified as a combat vehicle commander with the 27th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade.

The defendant faces charges of the cruel treatment of civilians combined with the intentional murder and other violations of the laws and customs of war.

According to court documents, Dudyev “intentionally murdered Fedir Zdebskyi… motivated by anti-Ukrainian sentiment”.

The case files state that on May 7, 2022, Duduyev, armed and wearing military uniform, entered the pathology department of the Pishchanskoi Bohomateri Central Local Hospital on Zalikarniana St in the city of Izium.

Three people were present in the room: Zdebskyi, laboratory technician Valentyna Borchan and pathologist Serhii Mozzhukhin.

The charging document does not specify why Duduyev visited the department.

Zdebski, 60, told the soldier that he considered the Russian military presence in the city of Izium to be illegal. After these words, Duduyev struck Zdebskyi several times in the face and then, to intimidate those present, fired four shots from a Kalashnikov assault rifle at the ceiling.

Borchan fled in fear and the Russian officer ordered Mozzhukhin to find her and make her return to the room.

Only Duduyev and Zdebskyi remained in the room. Investigators believe Duduyev then shot Zdebskyi in the chest at least once. The victim died at the scene.

The plaintiffs in the case are Zdebskyi’s ex-wife, Alla Zdebska, and his partner, Valentyna Kurylo.

Kurylo related how Duduyev had come to the hospital demanding Zdebskyi’s car. The pathologist was had a prosthetic leg and so drove a modified vehicle.

“The occupants often tried to take this car from us,” Kurylo said. “They would come to our home. Our car had a disabled badge and manual steering. When the occupants came, I told them that my husband, who didn’t have a leg, needed this car to drive to work. Duduyev came into the office and demanded that they give him the car. Of course, Fedir told him that ‘no one called you here, go to your homeland and command there. Glory to Ukraine!’”

The Russian serviceman then beat Zdebskyi and appeared to shoot him. Kurylo said that she had learned these details from witnesses who overheard the conversation between the Duduyev and the doctor.

Zdebskyi was taken from the office and driven away in an unknown direction. The pathologist’s body has yet not been found, and his corpse was not at the mass burial site discovered on Shakespeare Street in Izium.

Kurylo said that she still hoped her common-law husband was only wounded and then taken to Russia where he is being held in prison, like many other Ukrainians.

“Until I see the body or even, if they say it’s been buried, see a photo showing that it is really him, I will believe that he is not dead, that he is missing,” Kurylo told the court.

Mass Burial

Duduyev is also among the indictees in the case of the murder of 57-year-old Salyha, who owned a sawmill in Izyum.

His body was found in the mass grave on Izyum’s Shakespeare Street that yielded the remains of 445 civilians.

His daughter Olesia, who was not in Izyum during the occupation, relayed the accounts of neighbours and acquaintances.

She said that she had heard how, on May 5, 2022, Russian servicemen took her father from his home, placed a bag over his head and drove him to their command post.

“Contradictory information emerged,” she said. “Someone said they saw him in a pit. At the time, such pits were used as prisons. The others stated he was sent there for forced labour, digging trenches. A shell fell there, and apparently that’s how he died. But acquaintances in Izyum, who were arranging the funeral, discreetly photographed the body to ascertain the cause of death. My father was friends with the manager; everyone there knew my father.

“The report indicated that he had a fatal shrapnel chest wound. I haven't seen the photos, but I was told that he was wearing a white T-shirt and this T-shirt was clean. That is clearly not a chest wound. However, he had a bruise under his eye and, as I recall, clotted blood under his nose. Most likely, he died from being beaten.”

Olesia said that a neighbour had reported seeing a badly injured Salyha come out of the Russian command post in occupied Izyum.

“He was severely beaten there for reasons unknown,” Olesia continued. “They forced him to walk out, as she said, and he was in very bad shape, but he managed to walk.”

The Russians then took the man in an unknown direction and he was not seen alive again. On May 10, a neighbour who had remained in Izyum informed Olesia that her father had been buried at the mass burial site on Shakespeare Street.

Olesia requested in a statement to the court that the case proceed in her absence.

Investigators believe that Duduyev, along with Dmytro Konovnin, from Sukhodolsk in the Luhansk region, and Serhii Reznik, from the city of Poltava – both serving in the de facto Luhansk armed forces - together with four other unidentified servicemen, illegally detained and interrogated local residents who were not participating in combat operations.

On 5 May 2022, Russian servicemen arrived in two vehicles at the house where Salyha lived with his friend, Hennadii Bondarenko. After some time, Salyha and Bondarenko were led out of the house with bags over their heads and their hands tied. The suspects took them to a building at 10-G Honcharivska Square in Izyum, where they were tortured and beaten. Salyha was later taken out of the building and transported to another location. The investigation has not yet determined the final destination.

“Salyha died as a result of numerous blows to vital organs,” the charging document stated.

Russian servicemen later transported Salyha’s body to the morgue. The body showed multiple signs of trauma. In particular, the forensic examination conducted after the exhumation revealed that Salyha had a fractured skull, a broken jaw and fractured laryngeal cartilage and ribs.

The Dzerzhynskyi district court of Kharkiv was scheduled to hold the first preparatory hearing in the case concerning the intentional murders of Salyha and Zdebskyi on February 6, 2025. The hearing did not take place due to the absence of one of the members of the panel of judges. However, the presiding judge, Ihor Semiriad, said he was determined to begin hearing the evidence as soon as possible.

Ukraine provided free defence attorneys to all the defendants. They were also informed about the hearing, according to protocol.