JAKARTA – Ukraine handed over a Russian soldier who was arrested on charges of illegal torture and detention to Lithuania for trial.
The case, according to Kyiv, is the first case involving a third state justice system during the Russian war that has lasted nearly four years.
The soldier, known as Lithuania as Russian marine, allegedly worked at a detention center established at Melitopol Airport in 2022 in Russia’s occupied southern Ukraine.
One of the victims was a Lithuanian citizen, Lituanian Attorney General Nida Grunskiene told reporters in Vilnius on Friday, October 31.
The suspect was arrested on the front lines of Ukraine in 2023 and handed over on Wednesday to Lithuania.
There, he was detained by the court for three months and charged with war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war, including illegal torture and imprisonment, Grunskiene said.
Neither the Kremlin nor Russia’s diplomatic mission in Vilnius immediately responded to requests for comment.
Russia has previously denied using torture or other forms of abuse against prisoners.
Ukrainian Attorney General Ruslan Kravchenko said the transfer of the Russian army created a historical precedent important for international justice.
“For the first time since the start of full-scale (Russia) aggression, Ukraine has handed a Russian soldier over to a foreign country for real criminal prosecution for war crimes”, he said through a Telegram messaging application.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language.
(system supported by DigitalSiber.id)