On 2 December, the Derhachi Raion Court of Kharkiv Oblast sentenced in absentia to 12 years’ imprisonment the head of a self-proclaimed ‘police’ body, Volodymyr Samoilov, for abusing civilians in the Kharkiv region. 

Volodymyr Samoilov is originally from Belgorod Oblast of russia but had periodically lived in the village of Strilecha in Kharkiv Oblast for more than ten years. During the temporary occupation by russia, he operated in the Lyptsi and Derhachi communities of the Kharkiv region and performed the duties of head of the so-called ‘people’s police’. 

He was tried for violations of the laws and customs of war manifested in cruel treatment of civilians. According to the investigation, together with servicemen of the russia, he tortured local residents, forced them to cooperate with the occupation authorities and extorted information about the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). Prior to this, people were detained and thrown into an improvised torture facility.

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, russian forces temporarily occupied a number of settlements in the Lyptsi and Derhachi territorial communities. Subsequently, Samoilov became acting head of the self-proclaimed ‘people’s police’, taking up the position of chief of district officers. 

‘He possessed information about local residents in the community and therefore knew who needed to be “subjected to preventive measures” for being pro-Ukrainian. russian servicemen forcibly detained people and took them to torture facilities’, the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.

Beaten with a hammer and deprived of air 

As stated in the verdict, according to the investigation, on 13 March 2022, russian servicemen arrived at the home of one of Strilecha village residents. The russians seized him, bound his hands with plastic handcuffs, pulled a hood over his head and wrapped it with tape, after which they searched the house. The man was then taken to the village of Hoptivka in Kharkiv Oblast and thrown into a torture facility set up on the premises of the Hoptivka customs checkpoint. 

The man was brutally interrogated and forced to provide information about the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, despite being a civilian. He was beaten with rubber batons, an electric shocker and a wet towel on his legs and kidneys. Samoilov himself beat the victim on the head and body with a wooden hammer and poured water over his face through a towel, blocking his access to air. The man was held without the possibility of going outside, was barely fed and was not provided with hygiene products. He was released only on 23 March.  

A psychological and psychiatric examination identified signs of post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from those events.  

On 14 March 2022, the defendant, together with russian servicemen, detained another local resident on the street, forced his hands behind his back, bound them with plastic restraints, pulled a hat down over his eyes and wrapped his head with tape. The man was taken to the same torture facility. The following day, the defendant tied the victim to a chair and interrogated him, demanding information about AFU servicemen, despite the fact that the victim was a civilian. 

After each answer, the accused struck the man’s hands and legs with a wooden hammer. Subsequently, the victim was interrogated in this manner on a daily basis, and on 25 March he was offered ‘voluntary’ cooperation and a position as a driver within unlawfully established occupation authorities. He was threatened with violence against his daughter and grandchildren and agreed under duress, after which he was released. 

In August 2022, russian servicemen arrived at the home of another current victim in the village of Lyptsi. Bursting into the house without any explanation, they placed a bag over the elderly man’s head, bound his hands behind his back with tape and forced him into their vehicle. 

During the search, documents and a hunting rifle were seized, and the man was taken to the basement of a house in the village of Strilecha. On one occasion, according to the verdict, Samoilov ran into the cell where the man was being held and began beating him all over his body with a rubber baton after the victim referred to representatives of the so-called ‘lpr’ (luhansk people’s republic) as Gestapo members. 

Witnesses questioned in court confirmed that the defendant began cooperating with the russians at the start of the occupation. They also stated that they had seen victims being abducted. 

During the trial, a lawyer from the state-funded legal aid centre said she had been unable to ascertain her client’s position. In her opinion, the prosecution had failed to prove that her client committed the alleged crime and had not presented admissible evidence. Samoilov’s Ukrainian lawyer also argued that no actual harm had been caused by his actions.

Ultimately, the court found Samoilov guilty and sentenced him in absentia to 12 years’ imprisonment. The term of the sentence will be calculated from the moment of his actual detention.