Russian commander involved in murder of 17 civilians in Bucha notified of suspicion - PGO
The Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has issued a notice of suspicion to the commander of a Russian army platoon involved in the murder of 17 civilians in Bucha during the occupation of Kyiv region in 2022.
On Friday, the agency reported on its Telegram channel that this Russian soldier is one of six suspects who committed atrocities in Bucha.
"On March 7, 2022, during the occupation of Kyiv region, servicemen of the 234th Airborne Assault Regiment of the 76th Division of the Airborne Troops of the Russian Armed Forces, under the command of a lieutenant, established control over Lisna Bucha area," the message reads.
According to the prosecutor's office, while conducting so-called filtration, they carried out searches, torture, and murder of pro-Ukrainian civilians who, in their opinion, could assist the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
"During March 2022, this officer's subordinates killed at least 17 civilians. To cover up the crimes, they burned the bodies of some of the dead," the Prosecutor General's Office noted.
According to the report, the platoon commander, instead of observing the laws and customs of war, violated them himself, calling on his subordinates to commit atrocities, convincing them of impunity.
"He organized a reporting system that allowed him to be aware of all their actions in the occupied territory and to have real opportunities to prevent or punish crimes. His actions and orders created a system in which violence against civilians became the norm for the entire unit," the Ukrainian prosecutor's office noted.
In addition, it was established that the commander himself took direct part in the cruel treatment of three civilians and threatened to kill them.
Under the procedural guidance of prosecutors from the Prosecutor General's Office, a large-scale investigative process was conducted. "More than 330 victims and witnesses were questioned, 59 investigative experiments were conducted, 86 photo identifications were made, 89 crime scene inspections were conducted, and three body exhumations were performed. The evidence obtained allowed us to reconstruct in detail the circumstances of the murders of 17 civilians," the Prosecutor General's Office noted.
As a result of the work carried out, investigators and prosecutors collected comprehensive evidence of the crimes. The perpetrators were identified, and a comprehensive legal assessment of the platoon commander's actions was provided.
The department clarified that the platoon commander was held accountable for three types of war crimes: issuing a criminal order, directly committing a crime jointly with other military personnel, and command responsibility (responsibility for crimes committed by subordinates).