The Khadzhibey District Court of Odesa in absentia found 45-year-old FSB of the Russian Federation officer Yuriy Belyatsky guilty of cruel treatment of the civilian population and violations of the laws and customs of war. The court issued the corresponding verdict on January 6.
This was reported by the Center for Investigative Journalism citing the court verdict and other sources.
According to the investigation, in spring 2022, during the temporary occupation of Kherson, Belyatsky led the unlawful detention of a local resident. On March 31 Russian servicemen burst into the Kherson resident’s apartment, threatened his wife and underage son with violence and forced the man to return home. After that they beat him, tied him up, took him away in an unknown direction and held him against his will. The man was brought to some premises where they continued to beat and abuse him, threatened to harm him and members of his family, and twice simulated shooting him in the back of the head with a firearm.
Eventually, the man was offered cooperation with the FSB of the Russian Federation. He decided that this was his chance to stay alive and agreed. The man consented to cooperate and that evening he was released.
Later the family was evacuated from occupied Kherson.
Also, during the search cash and personal property disappeared from the victim’s apartment, including household appliances and electronics.
The investigation established that it was Yuriy Belyatsky who gave the orders during the search and detention. At the time of the crime he held the position of deputy head of the 9th Directorate of the Department of Operational Information of the 5th Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation. His identity was determined, among other things, by a portrait created by a portrait artist from the victim’s description.
Testimony in court was also given by the victim’s wife and a neighbor who saw how the Russian servicemen conducted the search and took the man away.
The court concluded that Belyatsky’s actions bear the hallmarks of war crimes, including an attack on a civilian, unlawful detention, torture, robbery and confiscation of private property.
Yuriy Belyatsky was found guilty and in absentia sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment. The term of the sentence will begin from the moment of his detention.
Earlier we wrote that the Kherson City Court issued a verdict against Kherson resident Nataliya Zheltoukhova, who worked in the occupation’s migration administration.