Ukraine is due to hold a preliminary hearing on Thursday in its first trial of a Russian soldier accused of raping a Ukrainian woman during the invasion of Russia, the first of dozens of such cases.
The suspect, 32-year-old Mikhail Romanov, who is not in Ukrainian custody and will be tried in absentia, is accused of murdering a civilian in Kiev’s capital region on March 9 and then repeatedly raping the man’s wife, according to police. court files.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a written request for comment, and Reuters was unable to contact the soldier.
Moscow has denied the war crimes charges.
Romanov is accused of raping a 33-year-old woman after he and another Russian soldier shot her husband Oleksiy at point-blank range in the village of Bohdanivka, northeast of Kiev.
The two soldiers then left and then came back twice more to rape her, the court files said. The identity of the second soldier had not been established.
It was not immediately clear what kind of legal representation Romanov would have at the trial, which will be held behind closed doors.
A prosecutor working on sexual violence cases told Reuters that up to 50 such crimes were being investigated, but that the number of sexual violence cases committed by Russian soldiers since Feb. 24 is likely to be substantially higher.
Officials, activists and doctors said many survivors were afraid or unwilling to present their cases to police and prosecutors, for fear of reprisals from Russia and stigma from their Ukrainian neighbors.
A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office said a prosecutor should publicly comment on the trial after Thursday’s hearing.
Ukraine says it is investigating thousands of potential war crimes committed during the Russian invasion, which began on February 24. Attorney General Iryna Venediktova told Reuters many of the suspects are in Russia, but some were captured by Ukraine as prisoners of war.
Source: CNN Brasil
