ZMINA Human Rights Centre published the story of Oleg Vakhterov from Kherson, who is in captivity

Kherson resident Oleg Vakhterov was forcibly taken from his own home by the occupants on 19 March 2022. He was first held in the seized building of the Kherson Main Department of the National Police, then transported to occupied Sevastopol, and later to the Russian town of Surovikino. In January 2023, the Russian authorities passed an illegal sentence on him, sentencing him to 10 years in prison on trumped-up charges of "espionage". His sister Olga Vakhterova told ZMINA about the incident.

Before the war, Oleg Vakhterov worked as a rescuer in the Kherson municipal emergency rescue service "Khokars".

After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russians, he became part of the resistance to Russian aggression. on 25 February 2022, Oleg joined the 124th Kherson Territorial Defence Brigade. He collected weapons and parts from the destroyed Russian equipment for further transfer to the Ukrainian military.

on 19 March 2022, when Oleg and his acquaintance Anna were at his home, Russian military officers accompanied by FSB officers burst into the flat. They put a bag over his head, put him in a car and took him to an unknown destination. Oleg's relatives learnt about his detention from acquaintances, who reported about the searches in the garages.

Oleg's sister Olga reported that during the search, belongings and money disappeared.

His passport, birth certificate and car documents disappeared. The remote control of the echo sounder, a device for diving and navigation, was also missing. My brother had a hobby of raising sunken ships. Later, the Russians tried to break the locks of the flat to steal the property, but a neighbour prevented them from doing so. I think they came for a plasma TV, a fridge, a washing machine and a music centre," says Olga.

After that, Olga did not see her brother. She also could not figure out where he was. For a long time she hoped that he was in the city and would be released, but it did not happen.

At the end of May 2022, Olga was contacted by a woman whose brother was also being held in the same building of the Kherson Main Department of the National Police where Oleg was. She said that Oleg was beaten, his ribs were broken and his kidneys were damaged. According to her, the Russians abused many people who were held in detention centres in this way. After Kherson was liberated from the invaders, they found his name scratched on the wall of the cell where Oleg was held.

Olga points out that the prisoners were not released, but were transported to occupied Crimea.

Human rights activists found out that around 18 April 2022, the prisoners were transported to Sevastopol to the Vice-Admiral V. Kornilov Naval Institute, which was located in a building without windows. Some time later, the prisoners were sent from there to Russian Taganrog.

The National Information Bureau confirmed that Oleg was in captivity, but did not say where exactly. Also, he is in the ICRC database," Olga notes.

In September 2022, Olga first received a letter from her brother, in which he wrote that everything was fine with him. The man wrote to her that he had put his life-saving skills to good use. he had gained access to medicines and was now helping sick and injured prisoners.

Already on 14 July 2024, Olga received a message from a woman whose husband was in the same cell with Oleg already in the penal colony #19 in Surovikino in the Volgograd region.

She said that Oleg had been transferred through seven different Russian prisons. Now he and several other prisoners are constantly kept in a punishment cell and are hardly ever taken out for walks," Olga said.

During her renewed correspondence with her brother, Olga learnt that in January 2023, he was sentenced under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code for "espionage".

He was convicted solely for defending his country. He did not stand by and tried to help our military in any way he could. I hope that he will be returned to Ukraine during the exchanges," Olga said.

We would like to point out that at the beginning of 2024, the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war reported that there were more than 8,000 Ukrainians - both military and civilian - in Russian captivity.

At the same time, in the summer of 2024, Vladimir Putin claimed that Ukraine had about 1.3 thousand Russian military personnel in captivity, while Russia had about 6.5 thousand Ukrainians. Human rights activists believe that the Kremlin head is deliberately mentioning untrue figures.