Two Russian Soldiers to be Tried for Rape, Torture and Robbery

Tuesday, 2 April, 2024

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Iryna Domashchenko

Kyiv-based IWPR's court reporter

Two Russian soldiers are to face trial for the alleged rape of a pregnant woman in March 2022 during the occupation of Velyka Dymerka, a rural settlement 40 kilometres east of the capital Kyiv. Corporal Rinat Khakimyanov, 23, and private Arslan Salikhov, 22, are also accused of brutal treatment of other civilians and robbery. 

Russian troops occupied the settlement of 10,000 people on March 8, 2022, before capturing the neighbouring villages of Bohdanivka and Peremoga and launching a massive attack on Brovary, a strategically located city in the Kyiv metropolitan area. Velyka Dymerka remained under Russian control until March 31, and Ukraine's armed forces liberated entered the village on April 1. About half of the 10,000 pre-war residents remain in the village. Scores were killed or went missing and survivors spent the weeks of the occupation in cellars.  

Khakimyanov and Salikhov belong to the 6th tank regiment of military unit 93992, stationed in  Chebarkul, a city in central Russia about 100 kilometres north of the two servicemen’s hometownof  Chelyabinsk. 

On March 20, 2022, tank commander Khakimyanov, Salikhov, and accomplicies who were not identified inthe pre-trial investigation, seized a 24-year-old local man in his courtyard. They beat him,  commandeered his mobile phone, tied his hands and took him to the Russian headquarters in the village. The man was held captive for four days: at night he was kept in a cellar, his hands and feet tied and roped to a heating battery, while during the day he was forced to dig trenches. The man managed to escape while the Russian positions were being shelled by Ukrainian forces. 

Also on March 20, the suspects took a mobile phone from another resident, a 33-year-old man, and then entered the house where a couple and their young daughter lived. The pre-trial investigation found that the Russians forced the man onto his knees, forced him to take off his clothes, questioned him about his relationship to Ukraine’s territorial defence units and the location of Ukrainian troops. They took the mobile phones from each of the family members and left. 

The next day, March 21, Khakimyanov, Salikhov and another unidentified Russian soldier came to the yard of a 32-year-old local woman who was three months pregnant. They put a machine gun to her back and forced her to enter the house. According to the investigation, Salikhov stayed at the  entrance on guard duty; inside, the unidentified serviceman hit the woman in the face with a machine gun, knocked out four of her teeth and raped her. The victim lost consciousness. Then Khakimyanov entered the room, poured water on her face and head to revive her and then raped her. 

The woman had a miscarriage the following day . 

The Ukrainian police released a video in which the victim, her face blurred, recounted the events. 

“The first time I was hit with a machine gun. I still hoped that I would not be touched [or] I would be captured as prisoner... It was about 10 in the morning when they entered the yard. I understood that they were walking purposefully. There were three of them,” the victim said, crying. She added that the Russian soldiers were drunk and came with alcohol, offering her to drink with them. The woman replied that she could not because she was pregnant. The Russians asked questions about the whereabouts of the Ukrainian military. 

“I understood that they will either kill me or abuse me - beat me... I said, please don't touch me, I'm pregnant... [They put] a machine gun in my back... I entered [the house] and understood that I was going to be raped, because he [a Russian soldier] began to undress, I began to beg on my knees, cry, scream, to which he hit me in the teeth with the handle of a machine gun, knocking out my teeth and blood began to flow [from my mouth]. It didn't bother him,” the woman said.  

She said that the other  Russian soldier sat on the sofa and watched it all - “like [it was] a movie.” 

“Then the second also raped me, although I was practically unconscious... I was covered in blood... They dragged me by the hair and beat me," the victim recalled, adding that afterwards she was thrown on the bed “like a rag”. 

In November 2022, Khakimyanov and Salikhov were informed in absentia of the suspicion of violation of the laws and customs of war for cruel treatment of the civilian population. Victims and witnesses identified the accused through photos from protocols found by the investigators.  

The whereanbouts of the accused remain unknown: after Russian troops retreated from the Kyiv region at the end of March 2022, their unit was probably redeployed to Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories. Both servicement are on the wanted list. 

In June 2023, the Pechersk district court of Kyiv gave permission for a special pre-trial investigation and in February 2024, their case was brought to the Brovary city and district court. In the preparatory stage of the trial, each of the accused was appointed a defence attorney from the centre forfree legal aid. Due to the sensitivity of the case, it is most likely that it will be considered on behind closed doors. If found guilty under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 438 of the criminal code, the two Russian soldiers face from eight to twelve years of imprisonment. 

As of March 2024, Ukrainian authorities have reporded 274 conflict-related sexual violence acts against Ukrainian women, men and children. Law enforcement officers have issued suspicions against 40 Russian military personnel, while two have been sentenced to 12 and 10 years of imprisonment.