Court sentences five Russian soldiers in absentia to up to 10 years in prison for torturing civilians in Sumy region

According to Ukrinform, the Sumy Regional Prosecutor's Office stated this on its website.

The court established that on March 13, 2022, during the seizure of the city of Trostianets, armed Russian invaders detained four civilian men on one of the streets and took them to the premises of a local grain elevator, where a torture site had been set up in one of the utility buildings.

The civilians were handcuffed, and their eyes were covered with hats taped in place with adhesive tape.

The invaders beat one of the detainees and fired shots into the air, staging a mock execution in order to exert psychological pressure on the others. Threatening them with weapons, the Russian soldiers ordered everyone to lie on the floor and not move.

The next day, the captives were transferred to a basement. Two of them spent four days there in complete darkness, at an air temperature of around minus ten degrees Celsius, without sufficient drinking water or food. They were later released.

The other two men were taken on March 14 to the railway station building, where they were handed over to other Russian soldiers. There, the civilians were interrogated using physical violence and were later also released.

So far, only five invaders involved in the torture of these civilians have been identified. The court found them guilty of violating the laws and customs of war (Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). All five have been placed on the wanted list.

The pretrial investigation into the torture of civilians is ongoing.

As Ukrinform previously reported, a court sentenced a Russian serviceman to ten years in prison for torturing and abusing the mother of a Ukrainian defender in the Snihurivka community of Mykolaiv region.