UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Dec 6 – The Prosecutor’s Office in the Kharkiv region has sent to court charges against a Russian army officer who allowed his subordinates to illegally detain and torture civilians during the occupation of the city of Balakliya, reported the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

According to the investigation, a military man known in the Russian army as “Granit” was the commandant of the occupied Balakliya. Prosecutor’s Office said he ordered the detention of local veterans of Russian-Ukrainian war (serving before 2022), had relatives in the military, expressed pro-Ukrainian views, etc.

Prosecutors said “Granit”’s subordinates reported every fact of detention to him, and he repeatedly personally interrogated civilians, using, among other things, psychological pressure.

In April 2022, on the order of the accused, Russians abducted and beat a man for his pro-Ukrainian position and then brought him up for interrogation, where the so-called commandant threatened him with weapons. The man was held in a torture chamber for 21 days without sufficient food, water, fresh air, a bed, or basic sanitary conditions.

The investigation said that they threatened another man with imprisonment and threatened to take his relatives to the Russian Federation. Both detainees were later released.

“Granit” is charged for the cruel treatment of civilians committed by a group of people by prior conspiracy. He faces imprisonment for a term of 8 to 12 years if found guilty by the court.

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  • The court found guilty a resident of the Kupiansk district who was preparing schools in the occupied territories for the educational process according to Russian standards. She was sentenced to five years in prison, said SBU (Ukraine’s security service agency) spokesman Vladyslav Abdula on his Facebook page.