The prosecutor's office of the Kherson region referred to the court the case of a colonel of the National Guard, who is accused of torturing local residents during the occupation. According to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, he was put on the wanted list.
According to the investigation, since March, the accused has led the National Guard in the occupied Kherson region. In April, on his orders, two local residents were tortured, demanding that they give information about the location of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As follows from the materials of the case, the victims were beaten with batons, tortured with electric current, and also threatened with reprisals.
The case against the National Guard was initiated under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war). In the message of the Prosecutor General's Office, the name of the accused is not called, it is only indicated that he holds the position of deputy head of the department of the National Guard of Russia in the Rostov region.
Meanwhile, the SBU department for the Kherson region writes on its Facebook page that the defendant's name is Oleksandr Naumenko (call sign "Alpha"). Colonel Naumenko is indeed listed among the deputy heads of the Rostov department of the Russian Guard on the website of the department.
The SBU report says that this person also participated in the dispersal of rallies of Kherson residents.
The Russian army captured Kherson in March. Ukraine regained control of the city in November. Since then, the city has continued to come under fire from Russian forces.
After the liberation of the city, the SBU discovered torture chambers where local residents suspected of having links with the Armed Forces of Ukraine or disloyalty to the Russian administration were kept, as well as hundreds of graves.