Prosecutor's Office to appeal acquittal of occupier accused of looting

The Office of the Prosecutor General will appeal the acquittal of a Russian serviceman under the article on violation of the laws and customs of war. About, said the press service of the UCP.

The prosecutor's office insisted in court arguments on finding the occupier guilty and sentencing him to 10 years in prison. However, on October 30, the Borodyansky District Court acquitted the aggressor state's military officer.

The senior prosecutor in the case, the prosecutor of the OGP department, Dmytro Sinyuk, said that the department disagreed with this decision, as he believed that the evidence collected clearly pointed to the commission of a war crime.

"The state has an obligation to ensure inevitability of responsibility for crimes against Ukraine, and we will use all mechanisms provided by law to restore justice," the official added.

Earlier, the BBC channel reported that the Borodyansky District Court acquitted the occupier, who was accused of robbing a house during the occupation of Kyiv region in March 2012.

The court ruled that there was no sufficient evidence that this person had robbed the house of a resident of the village of Blystavitsa, Bucha district.

The article says that this verdict is the first acquittal among all those that have been passed in courts and concerned not only looting but also other crimes of the Russian army against civilians.

The prosecution provided evidence that, according to the investigation, indicates that the robbery was committed. The Rosgvardey was charged in absentia with violating the laws and customs of war.

The owner of the house left the village during the war and returned home in April 2022. According to her testimony to the court, the house was looted. In addition, it was clear that the occupants lived there.

The victim's neighbor, who did not leave the occupied Blystavitsa, testified that he saw Russian soldiers in the victim's house. The Russians took money and food from his house.

The journalists reminded that after the liberation of Kyiv region, videos began to appear on the Internet showing the occupiers sending parcels to Russia from the Belarusian city of Mozyr. They also published information about the senders of the parcels with their personal data, such as phone numbers and home addresses.

The court's verdict mentions that the defendant sent a parcel weighing more than 24 kg in the premises of the express mail office. It was sent to the Altai Territory of the Russian Federation.

However, the Borodyansky District Court decided that all this evidence was not enough to accuse the Russian Guard of having stolen the victim's property from her home.

• On November 6, the SBU reported that russian military who shot a captured Ukrainian soldier, received a life sentence for the first time in Ukraine.
• As of July 2025, during the full-scale war, Ukrainian courts have issued real sentences of 18 prisoners of war to war criminals.