A Russian human rights council has called for an international probe into a gruesome video extrajudicial killings of civilians by Kiev’s forces shared by a Ukrainian neo-Nazi. Disturbing footage shows murdered civilians thrown into a pit.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a probe over a disturbing video showing what are believed to be Russian civilians massacred by Kiev’s Nazis, thrown into a mass grave. The news was announced by the body’s head, Aleksandr Bastrykin, on Monday.
The footage in question had been shared on social media by a notorious member of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov regiment with a history of showing gruesome imagery of killed “pro-Russian” civilians.
“Experts with the Russian Investigative Committee will take measures to establish the circumstances of the death of civilians, as well as all those involved in their torture and murder, in order to bring them to criminal justice,” the Committee said in a statement.
The graphic clip was originally released online on Sunday by Maksim Zhorin, a senior commander with the neo-Nazi Azov regiment, outlawed in Russia. The far-right fighter said the video was shot in the town of Kupyansk, recently taken by Ukrainian forces.
The video shows a big hole dug in the ground with several bodies in civilian clothes lying semi-buried in it. Another body of an almost-naked man with his hands tied behind his back and legs held together by tape can be seen rolling down a steep slope into the pit. A shovel can be seen in the foreground, indicating that whoever shot the video was in the process of burying the bodies in a mass grave, while several men sporting military camouflage can be seen in the background.
Zhorin initially said that the video showed “civilian population” and warned that “there will be retaliation”. Shortly after the publication of the disturbing footage, Zhorin altered his post, claiming the video was taken from a phone owned by an “occupant,” implying the murder had been committed by the Russian military.
“However, the public raised alarm over the situation in the video. It indicates that the video was filmed recently, when the town was under the control of Ukrainian armed forces. The internal parameters of the video also show that it was filmed on the afternoon of October 9th. These facts speak of new war crimes by the Kiev regime,” the Committee noted.
Zhorin is already known for posting graphic images of Russian soldiers as well as of massacred civilians whom he accuses of being pro-Russian. In May, he released photos of apparent murder victims whom he identified as supporters of a Ukrainian opposition party. The extremely graphic imagery, deleted later by the neo-Nazi fighter, suggested the activists were brutally tortured and beaten to death.
Russia’s Investigative Committee head Aleksandr Bastrykin ordered a probe into a video of an apparent mass burial of kidnapped civilians, RT reports
A Russian human rights council has called for an international probe into a gruesome video extrajudicial killings of civilians by Kiev’s forces shared by a Ukrainian neo-Nazi.
Russia has alerted several international human rights organizations about a disturbing video purportedly showing dead civilians thrown into a mass grave in Ukraine, the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights said Monday. The video was shared by a Ukrainian neo-Nazi militant, who, however, blamed Russian troops for the apparent massacre.
The head of the Russian human rights council, Valery Fedorov, informed the UN Human Rights Council (OHCHR), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and Amnesty International, among other groups, about the grisly footage.
“This video speaks of extrajudicial killings, the physical elimination of people who show a civil position and dare to oppose official Kiev. The situation is also aggravated by the fact that official representatives of the Ukrainian authorities have previously openly announced carrying out ‘tough sweeping’ and ‘filtration measures’,” Fedorov said in a statement urging an international probe into the affair.
Earlier in the day, Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had launched a probe into the alleged massacre, which is believed to have happened near the town of Kupyansk in eastern Ukraine. The town was recently re-captured by Ukrainian troops after being held by Russian forces