Investigators of the National Police of the Kherson region have announced suspicion against Mariupol native Serhiy Yevarlak, who is involved in the torture of people in Lazurne.
This was reported in the notice of suspicion on the website of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
According to investigators, after the start of the occupation of the Skadovsk district, Yevarlak held the position of deputy of the so‑called commandant and head of the garrison of Russian troops in the settlement of Lazurne.
At that time the occupying authorities used the seized sanatorium “Chaika” in Lazurne as a place of illegal detention of civilians. It was there that Yevarlak, together with other Russian servicemen, set up a torture chamber where people were held in unsanitary conditions without food, water, or hygiene supplies.
In particular, Yevarlak is suspected of abusing two men. One of them was kidnapped from his own home, kept in a basement and brutally beaten in an attempt to force him to join the occupation police. The other victim was detained at his workplace in the Chornomorskyi Biosphere Reserve. The occupiers beat the latter, simulated an execution by pressing an assault rifle to the man’s head, and tortured him with electric current by connecting wires to his fingertips.
For this, Serhiy Yevarlak is suspected under part 2 of article 28 and part 1 of article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (cruel treatment of the civilian population and other violations of the laws and customs of war).
Recall that Yevarlak already has a verdict for war crimes in the Kherson region. Last year he was sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison for organizing a torture chamber and torturing civilians.
Yevarlak is originally from Mariupol. Until 2014 he held the position of patrol service inspector at the Mariupol city department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Donetsk oblast. In June 2014 he voluntarily resigned and was placed in the reserve. As it turned out, he subsequently moved to Russia — he has registration and residence status there since 2017.
According to investigators, he likely worked in Russian law enforcement agencies from November 2018. On social networks Yevarlak posted medals and publications for the “Day of the Russian Police”.