Former Interior Ministry investigator who defected to the Russian occupiers and tortured Ukrainian prisoners sentenced in absentia to 15 years

In Chernivtsi, a court has sentenced a former Interior Ministry investigator in absentia to 15 years of imprisonment for defecting to the occupying forces and torturing Ukrainian prisoners of war. Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) officers are working to apprehend the convicted individual and bring him to justice, as reported by the SBU Directorate in the Chernivtsi region.

“The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Chernivtsi has delivered a verdict against a former investigator of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine who joined the terrorist organisation ‘DPR’ and tortured Ukrainian prisoners of war and law enforcement officers of the Defence Forces. The defendant has been sentenced in absentia to 15 years of imprisonment with confiscation of all his property,” the statement reads.

According to the SBU, in 2016, a 36-year-old native of Donetsk voluntarily joined the terrorist organisation “DPR”. For his loyalty to the new occupying authorities, he received the position of “investigator” in the illegitimate “Ministry of Internal Affairs.” After the full-scale invasion, he joined a combat unit of the “DPR Ministry of Internal Affairs” and actively participated in hostilities.

“He illegally detained and with particular cruelty interrogated captured servicemen and law enforcement officers of the Defence Forces of Ukraine, and also intimidated the local population of the newly occupied territory of the Donetsk region. For such ‘efforts,’ the occupiers awarded the defendant a fake ‘medal,’ the rank of ‘police lieutenant colonel,’ and the position of senior investigator in the rashist ‘law enforcement’ agency,” court materials state.

The former Interior Ministry investigator was sentenced in absentia to 15 years of imprisonment under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

• Part 1 and 2 of Article 111 (treason);
• Part 7 of Article 111-1 (voluntary participation in an armed formation of the aggressor state);
• Part 1 of Article 258-3 (participation in a terrorist organization).

He was also stripped of his special rank of “Senior Lieutenant of the Militia” and barred from holding certain positions in state authorities, local self-government bodies, enterprises, institutions, and organisations of any ownership form for 15 years.

SBU officers are taking measures to apprehend the convicted individual and bring him to justice.

At the end of February of this year, the Chernihiv District Court found Russian occupier Orlan Dorzhu guilty in absentia of violating the laws and customs of war.