Tortured prisoner of war and civilians in Zaporizhzhia: Rosgvardiya commander sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison. PHOTO

Following a public prosecution by prosecutors from the Zaporizhzhia Regional Prosecutor’s Office, the court found the commander of a rosgvardiya unit guilty in absentia of cruel treatment of a Ukrainian prisoner of war and civilian residents (Article 438(1) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

This was reported by Censor.NET, citing the press centre of the Office of the Prosecutor General.

It is noted that the convicted man held the position of company commander in a police regiment of the Non-Ministerial Security Directorate of the Russian National Guard.

Abuse of a captured Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier and extortion of money from his relatives

Prosecutors proved that in October 2022, in the temporarily occupied territory of the Melitopol district, he and his subordinates unlawfully detained a serviceman of the Ukrainian Defence Forces and two civilians in inhumane conditions. The Ukrainian serviceman was beaten, intimidated and threatened with violence. He was also forced to contact his relatives and ask them to transfer money to bank cards controlled by the Russian commander.

The convicted man subjected the two civilians to physical and psychological abuse. Furthermore, he appropriated funds from the relatives of one of the victims, using a similar scheme.