The SSU has identified another russian occupier who committed war crimes against Ukrainian civilian population.

The perpetrator is 34-year-old russian Sultan Pashtov, a militant of the ‘Chibis’ battalion of the 16th separate brigade of the main directorate of the general staff of the russian armed forces (known as the ‘GRU’).

According to the investigation, in the spring of 2022 the militant was in the then-occupied Balakliya as part of a grouping of russian troops.

There, the invaders set up a torture chamber in a seized police station, where dozens of abducted residents were taken.

The SSU established that Pashtov had been directly involved in the ruscists’ punitive raids and torture of victims.

In the ‘jails’, captives were subjected to severe torture and kept for long periods of time in unsanitary conditions without food and water.

The ruscists also applied electric shocks to the imprisoned people.

In this way, Pashtov and his accomplices tried to intimidate local population and break their resistance to russian occupiers.

Using torture, he also tried to force locals to cooperate with the aggressor and provide information on Ukrainian Defence Forces.

Based on the collected evidence, SSU investigators have notified Pashtov of suspicion under Article 28.2 and 438.1 of the CCU (violation of laws and customs of war committed by a group of persons upon prior conspiracy).

Comprehensive efforts are underway to bring the war criminal to justice.

The SSU Kharkiv Office carried out the investigation under the procedural supervision of the regional Prosecutor’s Office.