The Safety Service of Ukraine (SBU), in coordination with the State Bureau of Investigations (SBR), filed costs in absentia towards a former SBU officer accused of securing and torturing native residents in occupied Melitopol, the service introduced on February 9.
Serhiy Handzha, who has been residing in exile in Russia since 2014, is accused of getting collaborated in “the organized mass persecution, kidnapping and torture of locals”, in addition to suppressing resistance to the Russian invasion within the area. in accordance with on the SBU.
Handzha, a senior SBU official below the previous president Viktor Yanukovychled the Russian Federal Safety Service in occupied Melitopol in Zaporizhzhya Oblast shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“Individuals had been kidnapped straight from the streets or from their very own properties after which taken to Russian torture chambers,” the SBU mentioned. “Extreme torture was utilized to the victims within the (torture chambers).”
The utmost penalty for collaboration below Ukraine's legal code is as much as 15 years in jail.
“At the moment complete measures have been taken to convey the perpetrator to justice for the crimes towards Ukraine,” the SBU added.
Handzha has been listed as a world fugitive since 2015, wished by Ukraine for treason. The Nationwide Safety and Protection Council of Ukraine revoked all of Handzha's state awards and titles in February 2021.
We work laborious to convey you unbiased, regionally sourced information from Ukraine. Take into account supporting the Impartial of Kiev.
