Murder of children's writer Volodymyr Vakulenko: investigation completed, case sent to court
Kyiv • UNN
Investigators have completed the investigation into the murder of children's writer Volodymyr Vakulenko and other civilians in the Izium district. The indictment against four Russian servicemen for war crimes has been sent to court.
Investigators have completed the investigation into the murder of children's writer Volodymyr Vakulenko and other civilians in the Izyum district, UNN reports with reference to the Kharkiv Oblast police.
Details
According to law enforcement officers, during the pre-trial investigation, irrefutable evidence was collected of the involvement of the company commander, his deputy, the platoon commander, and the machine gunner in war crimes in the village of Kapytolivka. All of them are natives of Luhansk Oblast, served in the 4th company of the 4th battalion of the 204th rifle regiment of the LNR mobilization reserve of the 2nd army corps of the 8th combined arms army of the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces.
One of the victims of the brutal crimes of the occupiers was 49-year-old Ukrainian children's writer Volodymyr Vakulenko. Russian servicemen offered him cooperation and tried to force him to abandon his pro-Ukrainian stance and patriotic views. For this, the writer paid with his life: he was beaten, tortured, shot in the legs with a pistol, and kept in inhumane conditions. Numerous searches were conducted in the house where he lived with his father and minor son. Later, the militants took him to their place of deployment and killed him. According to the examination, the cause of Volodymyr Vakulenko's death was gunshot wounds. Experts removed two bullets from a Makarov pistol from his body. His fingers were broken.
The involvement of these four military personnel of the illegal armed formation in the torture and murder of two more residents of Izyum region has also been established. In March 2022, Russian military personnel spotted two men, aged 50 and 75, in a forest who were collecting cones to light a samovar. Threatening them with weapons, the militants captured them and took them to a cellar, where they held, tortured, and abused them for a week. Subsequently, the 50-year-old man was beaten to death in a forest belt, and the 75-year-old man was shot.
Also, within the framework of the pre-trial investigation, law enforcement officers established the direct involvement of the suspects in the murder of a 58-year-old local resident who had previously served in the military during the ATO (JFO) in Luhansk and Donetsk regions. He, along with others, was held in a cellar, tortured, and shot several times in the head. A 56-year-old man miraculously escaped death at the hands of the occupiers. In order to obtain information of interest to the enemy, he was subjected to physical violence for a week, but then the man was released.
Investigators completed the pre-trial investigation under Part 2 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 28, Parts 1, 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The indictment has been sent to court. Procedural guidance is provided by the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office.
Recall
Earlier, UNN wrote that a 36-year-old "LNR" militant with the call sign "Academician" was notified of suspicion in the murder of writer Vakulenko. The suspect participated in the abduction, torture, and murder of the writer and three other people in the Izyum district.