Irina Sinelnik18:07, 20.09.23

10 people died in the school basement in terrible conditions / photo by Tatyana Veselovskaya

Local residents hope for a harsh sentence against the Russians.

In Chernigov, 15 Russian servicemen involved in the torture  of residents of the village of Yagodnoye, who were forcibly held in the basement of a local school for almost a month, are being tried in absentia. 

According to the Chernigov Regional Prosecutor’s Office, the case is being considered by the Chernigov District Court.

Russian military personnel are accused under Part 1 of Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war). They face imprisonment for a term of eight to twelve years.

Today the court questioned the first witnesses in the case. All residents of Yagodnoye who were in the basement can testify in court if they wish.

According to the investigation, the Russian Armed Forces during the occupation of the village of Yagodnoye, Chernigov region in March 2022, placed and forcibly held more than 300 local residents, including almost 70 minors, in the basement of a school in inhumane conditions.

At the same time, the suspects threatened village residents with weapons and inflicted bodily harm. Before placing people in the basement, the occupiers forced them to strip naked on the street in the presence of other village residents at sub-zero temperatures.

“Due to the detention of the civilian population in inhumane conditions – without access to fresh air in a stuffy space, without lighting in complete darkness, without drinking water and food, in unsanitary conditions, 10 civilians died from March 9 to March 28,” the statement said.

People who went through hell in Yagodnoye testify in court

At the same time, military personnel of the RF Armed Forces prohibited the burial of the dead in numbers of less than five people, and for violating this prohibition they opened fire with firearms on civilians who were forced to hide in dug graves.

Ukrainian law enforcement officers identified the Russian military personnel from the documentation that remained after the de-occupation of the village.As Yagodnoye resident Viktor Sorokopud, who was in the basement with his family and whose son Sergei was injured, told UNIAN, the village residents believe in justice and hope that the punishment for the occupiers will be as severe as possible.

“There is no forgiveness for such a thing and there should not be,” he emphasized.

Torture of residents of Yagodnoye during the Russian occupation

From March 3 to March 31, 2022, in the basement of the Yagodnyansky branch of the Kulichiv secondary school of the Ivanovo village council of the Chernihiv region, Russian occupiers held more than 350 civilians , almost 70 of whom were children. The youngest child was one and a half months old, and the oldest hostage was 93 years old. 

These people were used as human shields, since the school premises were the “headquarters” of the invaders

Due to inhumane living conditions – lack of sufficient space, sanitation, access to air, food, water – 10 elderly people died.

Of the 180 houses in the settlement, 148 were damaged, 16 were destroyed to the ground. Seven village residents were shot by the enemy.

(C)UNIAN 2023