On May 18, 2026, the Velykooleksandrivskyi District Court of Kherson Region sentenced three policemen from Skadovsk under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine for torturing a civilian.

What is known about the convicts

• Kuzmenyuk Ihor Ivanovych (born April 13, 1974) is a native of Skadovsk and a former Ukrainian law enforcement officer. Until September 2020, he worked as a senior criminal police operative in Skadovsk, after which he was dismissed for health reasons with the rank of police major.

In June 2022, he voluntarily joined the occupiers and received the position of the so-called “acting deputy head of the criminal investigation unit” of the occupation police in Skadovsk.

• Sirenko Ihor Vladyslavovych (born January 17, 2001) is a native of Skadovsk and a former serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Since December 2020, he had served under contract as a senior rifleman, though he was reportedly characterized negatively at his place of service.

In June 2022, following his own application, he was appointed to the position of the so-called “acting policeman of the commandant platoon” of the occupation police in Skadovsk.

• Chornyi Dmytro Serhiyovych (born January 25, 1994) is a native of the village of Topylnia in Zhytomyr Region.

Since June 24, 2022, he had held the position of the so-called “acting convoy officer” of the occupation police in Skadovsk.

Circumstances of the crime

On August 29, 2022, at approximately 2:30 p.m., Sirenko and several other individuals stopped a man riding a moped on Dzharylhatska Street in Skadovsk. The man was a civilian and had not participated in any hostilities, meaning he was protected under the Geneva Convention.

He was taken to the Skadovsk police department building at 82 Nezalezhnosti Street and held there until September 2.

During that time, the man was kept in an isolation cell in unsanitary conditions without proper access to water, a toilet, a mattress, or a pillow. Food was provided only occasionally, and he had no opportunity to wash or use hygiene products.

Over several days, Chorny, Kuzmenyuk, and Sirenko took turns entering his cell and using violence and threats in an attempt to force him to cooperate or confess to crimes he had not committed.

On August 29, Chorny entered the cell and punched the man in the face about four times before kicking him five to seven times in the body, causing him to fall. On September 2, during an interrogation, he struck the man four times on the shoulder and back with a rubber baton.

On August 30, Kuzmenyuk conducted the interrogation. He threatened the man with physical violence, murder, and injecting him with a substance that would make him seriously ill. He also beat him on the legs with a baton.

On September 1, Sirenko interrogated the man while threatening to kill him.

On September 2, at around 5:30 p.m., the man was released, but before that he was forced to write a statement claiming that he allegedly “had no complaints” against the occupation police. His phone and passport, which had been confiscated, were not returned immediately but were later handed over to his relatives.

Verdict

The court classified the defendants’ actions as cruel treatment of civilians and violations of international treaties, including Articles 27, 31, 32, and 147 of the Geneva Convention, as well as Article 75 of Additional Protocol I.

For this crime (Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), each defendant received a 12-year prison sentence, which, combined with sentences under other articles, resulted in a final sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment.

Criminal proceedings were registered in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations under No. 12022230000001866 dated June 21, 2022.