Beheaded with a knife: some Russian media report that video shows Wagner Group mercenaries
The Wagner Group was involved in the killing of a Ukrainian prisoner of war whose head was cut off while he was still alive, says Vladimir Osechkin, founder of the Russian human rights organisation Gulagu.net.
Source: Russian news agency Meduza; Osechkin on the YouTube channel Khodorkovsky Live
Quote from Osechkin: "We contacted Andrei Medvedev, the former commander of the first squad of the 4th platoon of the 7th assault squad of the Wagner Group, who is currently in a deportation prison in Sweden. In Sweden, detainees have access to mobile phones and computers. We sent him the video. He watched it several times. And he definitely recognises his colleagues, Wagner fighters, by their distinctive aliases, the way they speak, what they say on the radio, and other things."
Details: Osechkin also announced a reward of €3,000 for any information about the people in the video in order to identify the killer and the person who filmed the execution.
The reward is also set to be boosted by donations so that the killers can be identified and brought to justice.
Osechkin recalled that similar brutal murders have already been committed by Wagner Group fighters; there is a video on the internet of Wagner mercenaries killing a prisoner with a sledgehammer in Syria, as well as a video of them dismembering a body.
Background:
- On the evening of 11 April, a video of the brutal murder of a Ukrainian prisoner of war was posted on social media. The footage shows a Russian soldier beheading a Ukrainian defender, who was still alive at the time, with a knife.
- The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has launched a pre-trial investigation into the brutal murder of the Ukrainian captive. The head of the SSU said security forces would find the monsters who did this, even from underground.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on world leaders to respond to the video.
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