«They ordered to draw a stick to find out who would be killed first». Two Russian soldiers convicted in absentia for torturing civilians in Mykolaiv region

A court has found Russian servicemen Ruslan Akhmetov and Azret Batdyiev guilty of cruel treatment of civilians in the village of Novikiivka in Mykolaiv region and sentenced them to 11 and 12 years in prison in absentia.

This is evidenced by the verdict of the Snihurivka District Court of 28 April, according to NikVesti.

It should be noted that in July 2024, the court imprisoned pensioner Hryhorii Dragunenko for aiding the Russians in the case.

The village was occupied from 4 March to 11 November. According to the investigation, the soldiers of the 1st Motorised Rifle Company of the 126th Separate Guards Brigade of the Russian Coastal Defence, paramedic Ruslan Akhmetov and assistant grenade launcher Azret Batdyiev, tortured and threatened to kill seven villagers.

When the occupiers faced a water shortage in July 2022, they found a house in the village with a water intake point equipped with a water pump, which they wanted to use for their own needs.

The locals found out about it and dismantled the pump together with their fellow villagers, hiding it from the Russians. A list of their names and surnames was handed over to Akhmetov and Batdyiev, along with other members of the military group, by a local resident. However, the Russians could not find their places of residence on their own, so they engaged Grigory Drahunenko.

Together with him, they travelled around the village looking for the people on the list, who were detained and put into a truck. They brought the detainees to the area near the cemetery so that «would not have to carry» far and ordered them to line up. Later, two more locals were brought to the site, taken behind a beam and staged to be executed by shooting over their heads.

Others were intimidated, beaten, threatened with death, and forced to play a game of draw for their own lives — they were ordered to pull a stick to find out who would be killed first, while Batdyiev shot at the ground at their feet.

At the trial, the victims said that after their arrest, the Russian military kicked them in the face, forced them to their knees and threatened to shoot them. They were then released and given until the morning to return the pump.

According to the court's decision, Ruslan Akhmetov was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and Azret Batdyiev — to 11 years.

Earlier, it was reported that two Russian servicemen would be tried in absentia for illegal detention in inhumane conditions and torture of a civilian resident of the former temporarily occupied territory of Mykolaiv region.