Washington, Dec 6 (EFE). – The United States on Wednesday indicted four Russian military officers for war crimes allegedly committed in Ukraine against a US civilian who was abducted, tortured and interrogated, according to the indictment.
This is the first time the US has brought such charges under its jurisdiction, said Attorney General Merrick Garland at a press conference, reporting that the alleged events took place in April 2022.
The indictment against the servicemen was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia and includes three counts for “unlawful confinement, torture, and inhuman treatment” and one count of “conspiracy to commit war crimes.”
Two of the defendants, Suren Seiranovich Mkrtchyan and Dmitry Budnik, were “commanding officers of military units of the Russian Armed Forces and/or the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic,” while two lower rank soldiers appear in the indictment with only their first names, Valerii and Nazar.
Mkrtchyan and the two soldiers under his command abducted the victim from his home in Mylove, a small village in southern Ukraine, and held him unlawfully “for at least 10 days.”
Garland said that according to the indictment the soldiers “interrogated him,” “tortured him,” “beat him with their feet, their fists, and the stocks of their guns,” “stripped off his clothes and took pictures,” “threatened to sexually assault him” and staged a “mock execution” in which they “forced him to the ground and put a gun to the back of his head” and “moved the gun just before pulling the trigger” so that the “bullet went past his head.”
In a press release issued by the US Department of Justice FBI Director Christopher Wray said that “since the start of their unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Russia has weaponized human rights abuses to wreak unimaginable tragedy,” and added that “the FBI will work with the full cooperation of international law enforcement to bring justice to the victims of these atrocities.”
Garland said that the charges filed are “an important step toward ability for the Russian regime’s illegal war in Ukraine,” but the attorney general stressed that “Our work is far from done.” EFE mgr/ics/mcd
