President Zelensky addresses Ukrainian POW torture video
The Russian soldier who viciously executed a Ukrainian POW on camera in a video published this week faces up to 30 years in prison if caught, a top human rights lawyer has claimed. A lengthy investigation is now underway to understand exactly what happened and how to prosecute the perpetrators. Through extensive conversations with those with knowledge of the incident and the process of prosecuting war crimes, Express.co.uk here explains everything you need to know about this horrific atrocity.
What do we know so far?
On April 11, a video emerged on Russian Telegram channels purporting to show one of its soldiers beheading a Ukrainian POW.
The background of the video suggests it was filmed last year, either in late autumn or during the winter, but the footage remained within private Russian circles for months until it was published earlier this week.
In the video, a Ukrainian POW, who remains unnamed, is pinned to the ground by a Russian soldier. Two of his comrades, one behind the camera, witnessed the atrocity.
In the first few seconds, the Ukrainian man can be seen wildly struggling as the three Russian men joke and jeer.
Over the course of one-and-a-half minutes, the Russian suspect then viciously hacks at the Ukrainian man’s neck until, after a horrifying struggle, the victim’s head, severed from his body, is presented to the camera.
During the ordeal, one of the Russians witnessing the event joked: “Do you know how to cut off a head?”
What was the reaction in Ukraine?
Express.co.uk spoke to Kira Rudik, a People’s Deputy of Ukraine and leader of the political opposition party Holos, the morning after the video was first published.
Ms Rudik said she had “not slept at all” on the night of April 11, having seen the video an hour or so before she went to bed.
Describing the horror she felt witnessing the footage, she said: “I think it is maybe not even the video itself but the sounds of what [the Russians] were saying, like ‘Don’t you know how to cut heads?’ or something.”
From conversations she had with others, as well as the uproar that ensued on social media, she said: “I think most Ukrianians have seen that video.”
In various other conversations with civilian contacts in Ukraine, Express.co.uk was told of the “horror” and “disgust” that many others felt.
The prevailing sentiments among Ukrianians seem to be a mix of fear and hatred, as well as a determination to continue fighting against Russian forces.
“It makes us want to fight even more because we know what we are defending against,” Ms Rudik said. “We are trying to make sure that this pure evil stays away from the peaceful cities.”
Who are the perpetrators?
The day the video was published, the Ukrainian government issued a notice urging Ukrainians “to refrain from any assumptions” about the incident due to its “sensitivity”, according to Ms Rudik.
Many Ukrainians do not know whether their loved ones fighting on the frontlines have been lost or, if they have been confirmed dead, what happened to them.
In light of that, the President’s Office issued clear warnings against speculation over the video. Ms Rudik said she would wait for “triple confirmation” before speaking publicly.
On Thursday, Vladimir Osechkin, the founder of the Russian human rights group Gulagu.net, said he had spoken to Wagner Group deserter Andrei Medvedev, who defected to Norway in January 2023, about the incident.
Medvedev, currently sitting in a Norwegian deportation prison, said he recognised the voices and the call signs of the three mercenaries involved.
“He definitely identifies his colleagues there, the Wagner PMC fighters, by their characteristic call signs, by the way they talk, by the voice over the radio that he found familiar,” Osechkin said.
This amounted to the first public declaration that the perpetrators were Wagner Group mercenaries as opposed to soldiers of the Russian Armed Forces.
The following day, Dmytro Lubinets, Chairperson of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, said during an interview with local TV that the intelligence services knew “approximately” who the victim and suspects were.
He said: “We had a discussion with our intelligence services and according to their assumptions, they know approximately who did it, in which area and who took a direct part in it.”
When asked whether he could confirm the perpetrators were members of the Wagner Group, Mr Lubinets declined to answer.
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How could the suspects be investigated?
Within hours of the video emerging on Telegram, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced they had launched a pre-trial investigation into the incident.
They said they were investigating the atrocity “under Part 2 of Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine”, which concerns war crimes.
SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk added: “We will find these inhumans. If necessary, we will get them wherever they are: from underground or from the other world. But they will definitely be punished for what they have done.”
Wayne Jordash KC, a Kyiv-based international human rights lawyer leading mobile justice teams in Ukraine to support the nation’s Prosecutor General’s Office, spoke with Express.co.uk the following day to explain the legal procedures behind this case.
He said the “most important” action Ukraine needed to take was to establish what is termed “linkage or accomplice evidence”.
“If you really want to hone in on identifying the perpetrators, the best way to do that would be to go to an ex-Wagner member who will help you identify the perpetrators,” he said.
“We call that linkage or accomplice evidence. At every international criminal trial, the most important evidence is the linkage evidence. It is very difficult to investigate and try these crimes without that evidence.”
However, he said that despite Ukraine having the “primary responsibility for investigating these crimes,” they “probably have the least availability or access to the linkage or accomplice evidence”.
Regarding alternative methods of proof, he said: “There are other ways to investigate it. You could identify the victim; you could identify where the victim was when the crime was committed, you could identify the unit to which he belonged.
“You might then be able to rely on military or state security intelligence, intercepts and so on, to identify who is speaking. That is, however, a lot slower and less certain in terms of being able to prove the case.”
Will the international community investigate this crime?
Given the “notoriety” of this case already, Mr Jordash said he would be “surprised” if the International Criminal Court did not express some interest, however he added that it was “rare” for instances of individual acts of war crimes to be tried.
Will Russia investigate the crime?
On April 13, the Russian prosecutors office, according to local state media, said it was planning to “assess the credibility” of the footage.
They said the materials had been “forwarded to the investigative authorities for verification” but declined to say anything further.
In response, Mr Jordash said: “We’re talking about a state that seeks to deny the obvious and never ever admits it has an obligation to investigate the crimes. This is just more of the same.”
What charges could be handed down?
There are three crimes relevant to the Russian perpetrator in this instance. They include war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide.
“This is, without a shadow of a doubt, a war crime. That is obvious. You cannot torture and kill prisoners of war,” Mr Jordash said.
“It is also a crime against humanity because it is connected to a range of attacks on the wider Ukrainian civilian population.”
Whether it is a genocidal act, however, could only be established if the perpetrator was found and their “criminal intent was established”. Acts of genocide in this instance would be defined by the “intention to destroy part of the Ukrianian national group”.
Mr Jordash said that there was a “real possibility” that this could fall under acts of genocide.
He added that there would be no appeal against these crimes as “there is just no plausible explanation for this act that would enable an identified accused to mount a defence”.
What length of sentence could the perpetrator face?
The Russian perpetrator faces anywhere between 10 and 30 years in prison depending on if he is tried in Ukraine or by the ICC.
“Unfortunately, the sentences for these single acts, notwithstanding its horrific nature, are surprisingly low at the international tribunals,” Mr Jordash said.
If this occurred in England, the sentence would warrant a minimum of 25 years in prison, though Mr Jordash suggested it would probably be escalated to 30.
On the international stage, however, there needs to be “equity between the accused”.
“If you aid and abet the mass killing of 5000 people, you could end up with a 25-year sentence,” he explained. “But if the next person appears and they are only responsible for one war crime, one killing of one person, they can legitimately complain if they end up with a 20-year sentence.”
For this reason, “even for something as terrible and cruel as this, the sentences are often lower than you would expect.”
Within Ukraine, however, “it would be completely reasonable to give the perpetrators a sentence of 30 years”, Mr Jordash added.
“There would be no obligation on Ukraine to follow the lower sentencing precedent set at the international tribunals. None at all.”
What are the chances of this perpetrator being convicted and imprisoned?
Ukraine is investigating thousands of instances of war crimes, as are the international communities supporting them.
Convicting individuals for single instances of war crimes is rare for the simple reason that they often make up a small part of a much larger system of atrocities. This case is no different, Mr Jordash said.
It is also entirely possible given the huge number of Wagner Group losses in Ukraine, estimated between 20,000 and 30,000 in the past six months, that the perpetrator has been killed in action.
“I think the answer to the question of being charged really lies with the determination of the international community, or rather the West,” Mr Jordash said.
“I would say the only realistic possibility is that when an eventual peace treaty is signed, there is no compromise on the surrender of Russian suspects.”
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