A Russian prison guard is suspected of torturing a Ukrainian man in a Simferopol pretrial detention center
The National Police of Ukraine have identified one of the individuals directly responsible for the torture of a Ukrainian civilian in occupied Simferopol. The man was illegally detained for over eight months in Pretrial Detention Center No. 2, where he was systematically beaten, humiliated because of his nationality, and tortured with stun guns.
Investigators from the Main Investigative Directorate and operatives from the Criminal Investigation Department reconstructed the internal structure of the occupation detention center, identified its leadership and staff, and determined the positions and functions of the employees. This information was cross-referenced with the testimony of the victim and witnesses.
The investigation identified Russian citizen Zhanat Akhmetov, born in 1982, as one of those involved. He serves as deputy head of the regime and supervision department at the so-called Pretrial Detention Center No. 2 in Simferopol.
According to the investigation, Akhmetov personally participated in the torture of the Ukrainian man. The victim was beaten during cell inspections and punished for alleged violations of internal rules, including “improper” singing of the Russian national anthem or ignorance of the detention center’s established requirements.
According to the case file, the physical violence was accompanied by psychological pressure and humiliation because the man is Ukrainian.
Akhmetov was notified that he is suspected of a war crime—cruel treatment of a civilian—under Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The penalty under this article provides for up to 12 years of imprisonment.
Source: National Police of Ukraine
Earlier in occupied Crimea, a local woman was fined 30,000 rubles for a sympathetic comment regarding the death of a Ukrainian servicemember.
Previously, the Russian occupation authorities sentenced a 24-year-old resident of the Donetsk region to 14 years in a maximum-security prison for allegedly passing information about the location of Russian troops in the Donetsk region to Ukrainian intelligence.
