Russia decides not to try Ukrainian for alleged punitive activities

The Russia’s Investigative Committee refused to submit the case against Ukrainian Serhiy Litvinov, accused of the alleged punitive activities in Donbas, to the court.

This was announced by lawyer of Serhiy Litvinov, Viktor Parshutkin, who described it as “the first defeat of Bastrykin’s [chief of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation] office on the Ukrainian front.”

Litvinov, who had lived in the village of Kamyshne in Luhansk region until he was arrested in August 2014, was accused by the Russia’s Investigative Committee of the murder of 30 civilian men, rape and murder of eight women and a 12-year-old girl. The case of Litvinov is an episode of the so-called “large Ukrainian case” over the “crimes against the Russian-speaking population of the South-East.” Other persons of interest in the case are Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, Dnipro-1battalion commander Yuri Bereza, businessman Ihor Kolomoisky. According to the Russia’s Investigative Committee, Litvinov was allegedly the fighter of the Dnipro-1battalion, while the Interior Ministry of Ukraine, as well as relatives and villagers of Litvinov refute this.

In response to the lawyer’s inquiry, the Consulate of Ukraine in the Russian Federation reported that the victims mentioned in the indictment had been not registered in Stanytsia Luhanska district of Luhansk region, where Litvinov supposedly performed the so-called “punitive activities.” Moreover, the addresses of houses, where Litvinov allegedly raped and killed, do not exist.

“To save face, Litvinov was charged with domestic crime until September 10 this year. He was said to be an ordinary man, not a fighter of the Dnipro battalion, who grabbed two old cars (one of which is a pile of metal scrap) from Russian citizen Andrey Lysenko in the territory Stanytsia Luhanska district in Luhansk region, Ukraine. This case was separated from the “large Ukrainian case” in order to send for consideration on the merits to one of the districts of Rostov region, Russia,” lawyer Viktor Parshutkin says.