Ukrainian National Sentenced for Collaboration

Tuesday, 23 July, 2024

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Iryna Domashchenko

Kyiv-based IWPR's court reporter

A Ukrainian citizen has been found guilty of collaborating with Russian forces in finding, arresting and beating civilians during the occupation of Novokiivka, a village in the Mykolaiv region. 

On July 5, the Snigurivskiy district court convicted 62-year-old Hryhoriy Drahunenko of aiding and abetting a war crime and sentenced him to nine years in prison as per Part 5 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 438 of the criminal code. 

Located on the border with Kherson region, Novokiivka was occupied in early March 2022 and Russian soldiers controlled it for the next eight months.  

In the summer of 2022, the Russian military had found a well with a pump that would supply water. Soon afterwards, local residents dismantled and hid the device. The Russians had a list of people who they suspected were involved in the operation but no addresses.  

In July 2022, Drahunenko agreed to help the soldiers in exchange for favourable treatment, including, for example, crossing checkpoints unhindered and conducting his business activities.  

Drahunenko drove to the suspects’ houses, indicating their address, while Russian soldiers were in a truck behind him. Once identified, the men were arrested and detained.  

The pensioner also invited a man whose name was on the Russians’ list to his home, where Russian soldiers arrested him. In total, he aided the arrest of seven civilian villagers who were all taken out of the settlement and beaten. The military also staged mock executions and threatened to go after their families and set the village alight.  

Drahunenko was arrested in July 2023 and accused of aiding and abetting the brutal treatment of the civilian population in collusion with a group of individuals.     

The Trial

In court, the pensioner pleaded not guilty, stating that he acted under duress and did not voluntarily offer his help to the Russian military.  

According to the court register, Drahunenko claimed that the Russians kidnapped and beat him before taking his car keys and forcing him to drive around the settlement to indicate where the suspects lived. He also claimed that he tried to help and return the stolen pump.  

However, one of the victims testified that in July 2022 he was at home when Drahunenko’s son knocked on his door. He was accompanied by a Russian soldier and told him his father was waiting for him. The victim was then taken to Drahunenko's yard.  

"There were four or five more soldiers in the yard. They drank beer together with the accused. He [first] asked about the pump; Then a [Russian] soldier asked for the pump [too],” the victim told the court. He replied that he did not know where the pump was and that he had seen the list in the hands of the accused.  

When the victim, according to his testimony, was taken out of the village together with other men and beaten, Drahunenko was present and waiting. The victim refuted the accused’s claims of being forced by the Russians, stating that he saw the keys in his car, a Moskvich, and that the pensioner waited while the men were beaten. 

“He stood and smiled,” the victim testified, adding that the soldiers played Russian roulette with detainees using matches. If the victim pulled out the shortest match, he was taken over a hill where the soldiers started shooting: once close to him, and another time near his head. He was then hit in the face.  

“The Russian military gave [the civilians] four days to find the pump and ordered to not even look at the accused and his children, otherwise there would be big problems,” the man added. 

A second victim, indicated in the court register as Person_6, said that one of his neighbours left the village and instructed him to take care of the yard where the pump was. It was hidden so that the Russian military would not use it.  

Another victim confirmed in court that Drahunenko was not scared by the military.  

“When they were driving in the car, the military of the Russian Federation said that the accused was their 'friend,” he said.  

Two more victims told the court that the soldiers rested at a pond in Novokiivka owned by Drahunenko.  

Three witnesses defended Drahunenko in court, stating that he helped his fellow villagers, and the victims were "prone to theft."  

The prosecutor requested a ten-year sentence, while the defence lawyer asked for Drahunenko's acquittal due to lack of proof of guilt. The panel of judges stated that the defendant’s guilt was proven and recognised his cooperation with the investigators in identifying the Russian military involved as a mitigating circumstance. The defence has 30 days to appeal; the year the accused has already served in the pretrial detention centre l will be credited to his sentence.  

The Snigurivskiy district court is currently considering the case against two Russian soldiers, Ruslan Akhmetov and Azret Batdiev, who are thought to be among the soldiers who Dragunenko helped.