The Pavlohrad City District Court of Dnipropetrovs'k Region found three servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces guilty in absentia of violating the laws and customs of war. While intoxicated, they threatened a civilian with assault rifles, fired near his car and took his money. Each of the defendants was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

The verdict was delivered on December 16, 2025, in a special court proceeding (in absentia), as all three are in Russia and continue to serve in the army of the aggressor state.

What is known about the criminals

These are three citizens of the Russian Federation - Erei Oleksiyovych Mongush (born on 26.07.1985, Ak-Dovurak, Republic of Tyva), Serhiy Oleksiyovych Bebin (born on 30.01.1988, Gornoaltaysk, Republic of Altai) and Dmytro Oleksiyovych Melnikov (born on 20.05.1996, Krasnokamensk, Chita region). At the time of the crime in May 2022, all of them were on contract service in the 39th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces of the Eastern Military District, stationed on Sakhalin Island.

According to the court, the defendants held positions of drivers and performed rear tasks, including the transportation of ammunition. All three were armed with Kalashnikovs and wore military uniforms.

Criminal activity

The crime took place on May 16, 2022, at around 14:30 in the then-occupied Izium, Kharkiv region, near the building of the district unit of the State Emergency Service.

Three Russian soldiers noticed a civilian car, IZH-2717, in which two local residents were riding. They stopped the car, after which one of the soldiers, Mongush, fired two shots from an assault rifle near the front wheels, imitating a shooting.

The attackers then began to threaten the driver, pointing their weapons at him and putting bullets in the chambers. Bebin demanded that he hand over 3,500 hryvnias, threatening to kill him in case of refusal.

The victim took the threats as a real threat to his life and handed over the money. The military then left the crime scene and disposed of the stolen funds at their own discretion.

The court found that there was no military necessity for these actions, and that the victim was a civilian who did not take part in hostilities and was protected by international humanitarian law.

Evidence and testimony

The criminal proceedings over the robbery were registered in the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations on November 17, 2022, after the de-occupation.

The key witness in the case was a passenger in the car, who described the events in detail and identified all three attackers in a photo identification. His testimony was also confirmed by the victim's parents.

During the pre-trial investigation, investigative experiments were conducted, and documents from the Russian military commandant's office were collected, where the occupation structures themselves identified the attackers. The case file also contains written explanations from the accused, in which they personally confirm their stay in the Kharkiv region during the period of the crime.

The victim himself could not be summoned to court - he was called up for military service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, his whereabouts are unknown.

The verdict

The court classified the actions of each of the three soldiers under Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - violation of the laws and customs of war committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy.

The court recognized as aggravating circumstances the commission of the crime under martial law, the group nature of the actions and the defendants' intoxication.

The court did not find any mitigating circumstances.

As a result, each of the three defendants was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The sentence will be calculated from the moment of their actual detention.