The Borodyansky District Court in the Kiev region has handed down a 12-year prison sentence to 29-year-old Radik Gukasyan, a contractor with the 331st Airborne Regiment of the 98th Airborne Division of the Russian Armed Forces, for the murder of a civilian during the occupation of the Kiev region in March 2022. The Security Service of Ukraine reported this verdict.
Gukasyan was convicted of violating the laws and customs of war, along with deliberate murder by a group of individuals acting in collusion. The prosecutor had initially sought a 15-year sentence for the defendant.
According to the investigation, Gukasyan and his colleagues opened fire on a civilian vehicle on a highway near the village of Zdvizhevka in the Bucha district of the Kiev region in early March 2022. The victim, Dmitry Bondarenko, a 32-year-old resident of the Kiev region, tragically lost his life at the scene due to the injuries sustained.
To cover up their crime, the Russian military personnel buried Bondarenko’s body in the forest, as stated by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine.
In addition to the murder charge, Gukasyan was also accused of looting. The investigation revealed that he and his accomplices burglarized homes in the village of Yablunevka in the Bucha district in mid-March 2022, stealing items such as a PlayStation, which were later transported to Russia. Gukasyan was apprehended in August 2022 during the de-occupation of the Kherson region. While in custody, he reportedly confessed to the crimes and implicated his accomplices: Nikolai Simov, Denis Metelkin, and Danil Migunov.
Throughout the trial, Gukasyan…
Article from theins.ru