Ukraine has handed over a Russian serviceman, suspected of war crimes on our country's territory, to the Republic of Lithuania. According to the case materials, the defendant tortured prisoners, and among the victims of his actions was a Lithuanian citizen who volunteered in Ukraine. The extradition took place based on materials from a joint investigation by the Security Service, the Office of the Prosecutor General, and the National Police, UNN reports.
This is the first time since the beginning of the full-scale war that our state has extradited a detained Russian serviceman to another foreign state
According to the case materials, the detained Rashist is a citizen of the aggressor country, Margen Gadzhymagomedov, an inspector of the military police of the 177th separate marine regiment of the Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Federation. According to the case materials, he tortured prisoners who were held in a prison set up by the enemy on the territory of the temporarily occupied airfield in Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region.
Among those affected by his actions was a volunteer from Lithuania who had been helping the Ukrainian Defense Forces since the first days of the full-scale war.
As the investigation established, various tortures were used against the prisoners in the dungeons: they were kept in safes, suffocated until they lost consciousness, hung by their tied hands, doused with cold water in the frost, and tortured with electricity.
Ukrainian defenders captured the Rashist during battles in the Robotyne area in August 2024.
Based on the materials of SBU investigators and foreign partners, the Vilnius City Court recognized the defendant as a suspect in violating the Geneva Conventions, laws, and customs of war in accordance with Articles 100 and 103 (part 1) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania.
At the request of the Prosecutor General's Office of Lithuania, Ukraine carried out the extradition procedure of the suspect at the end of October for his prosecution.
According to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania, war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war, committed by torturing and unlawfully depriving them of liberty, are punishable by imprisonment from 10 to 20 years or life imprisonment. Therefore, I want to thank my colleagues from the SBU for their significant contribution to this investigation
Recall
In October, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Kravchenko reported that Ukraine had handed over a Russian serviceman to Lithuania for criminal prosecution for war crimes. The suspect has been taken into custody and faces life imprisonment.