The New Voice of Ukraine
First wartime rape case sent to court, Ukraine’s prosecutor general says
May 30, 2022
Russia’s war against Ukraine – the main events of May 30
According to the prosecutor general, a Russian soldier from the 239th regiment of the 90th guards tank Vitebsk-Novgorod division, Mikhail Romanov, will be tried for the murder of a man and sexual abuse of his wife in Kyiv Oblast.
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The investigation states that in March, during the occupation of the Brovary district of Kyiv Oblast, the invader broke into a house in one of the villages and shot its owner. After that, under the influence of alcohol, the Russian soldier, together with his comrade-in-arms, raped a woman several times. They threatened the woman with weapons and violence against her child, who was nearby at that time.
The defendant has not yet been arrested.
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Venediktova stressed that he would not escape a fair trial and responsibility before the law. She also urged to report other possible crimes of the invader.
Earlier Liudmyla Denisova, the Ombudsman for Human Rights in Ukraine, said the cases of rape, of both adults and children, by Russian occupying forces had been revealed to be widespread after their retreat from Kyiv Oblast.
These, and other atrocities, were revealed to the world on the discovery of the bodies of civilians, tortured and murdered and dumped on the streets of Bucha, Irpin, Borodianka, and along the Zhytomyr highway.
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According to Denisova, it is now impossible to estimate the scale of sexual crimes committed by Russian forces during the occupation of Ukrainian settlements. The unwillingness of victims to testify may complicate things further, the Ombudsman says – law enforcement authorities are unable to record crimes that are not reported.