Status: 04/13/2023 10:26 am
The video, which allegedly shows the beheading of a Ukrainian soldier, caused international outrage. According to civil rights activists, a Russian ex-mercenary has identified former comrades as the perpetrators.
The alleged beheading of a Ukrainian prisoner of war has caused horror and bewilderment far beyond the borders of Ukraine. United Nations observers in Ukraine, Czech President Petr Pavel, were shocked.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said the recent events must be properly investigated and those responsible held accountable. Serious violations of international humanitarian law have already been identified in the past, including in prisoners of war.
Comparison with the “Islamic State”
Pavel compared Russia to “Islamic State”. “If this video turns out to be authentic, then Russian soldiers have lined up with the ‘Islamic State’, which we should all condemn around the world,” said the off-duty general in Prague.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a minute’s silence at an event in Washington. “I now ask you to commemorate the Ukrainian soldier with a minute’s silence, whose death we all witnessed yesterday,” Zelenskyy, who joined the video, said at a roundtable on Ukraine during the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Selenskyj called for a minute’s silence.
Image: EPA
Not yet finally verified
The video has not yet been finally verified by an independent party. Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Maljar said yesterday that specialists are examining the video to identify those responsible.
Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets wrote on Telegram that “a public execution of a prisoner is further evidence of the violation of the norms of the Geneva Convention, international humanitarian law and the fundamental right to life”. He wrote letters to the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Kremlin doubted authenticity
The Kremlin had doubted the authenticity of the video yesterday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the video must be thoroughly checked to determine, among other things, whether it is authentic. “In the world of fakes we live in, the authenticity of the recordings needs to be investigated,” he said.
However, a former Russian mercenary claims to have “clearly” identified earlier comrades as the perpetrators in the video. The video material was sent to Andrei Medvedev, who fled to Norway months ago and is currently being held in Sweden, said the founder of the Russian civil rights organization Gulagu.net, Vladimir Ossechkin.
“He listened and watched it carefully several times, and he clearly recognizes there his former colleagues, fighters of the Wagner mercenary group,” Ossechkin said in the post, which was published on the YouTube channel of expatriate Russian opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Medvedev, who used to fight for the Russian mercenary group himself, identified the men based on “characteristic call signs and their way of speaking,” the civil rights activist said.
The perpetrator wears clothing typical of Russian soldiers
A video of around one and a half minutes appeared on the Internet on Wednesday night. It shows a man in uniform being beheaded. The perpetrator wears a white marking on his clothing that is typical for Russian soldiers.
The video is also said to show a man in a green uniform and yellow armband commonly worn by Ukrainian fighters. He is heard screaming before another man in camouflage clothing beheads him with a knife. A third man holds up a bulletproof vest that appears to belong to the decapitated man. All three men speak Russian.
‘Send him to the commander’ beheading video shocks Ukraine
Rebecca Barth, ARD Kiev, April 12, 2023 5:11 p.m