Ukrainian arrested in Grande-Motte, charged with crimes against humanity
Yehven Brazhnikov, an exiled Ukrainian living in Grande-Motte, was arrested in April and has been detained for five months. He is being investigated for crimes against humanity committed in a pro-Russian prison in Donetsk.
Exiled Ukrainian from Grande-Motte before French courts for torture and persecution
A Ukrainian man in his forties, who has been living in Grande-Motte for five years, is detained in France and being investigated for crimes against humanity and complicity in crimes against humanity, according to ici.fr.
Yehven Brazhnikov was arrested on 6 April at his home in the Hérault seaside resort, then transferred to Paris and brought before the National Counter-Terrorism Prosecutor. He has been held in custody since then, a period of five months.
The charges against him relate to a two-year period of detention in a prison in Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, run by pro-Russian separatists. Two NGOs have reported Brazhnikov for acts of torture, sexual violence and persecution which he allegedly committed against fellow prisoners. France and Ukraine suspect him of having acted as an "informant" in the service of the separatists: as a "fake prisoner", he allegedly extracted confessions and tortured prisoners himself.
This detention dates from a period after Moscow's annexation of Crimea, but before the start of the full-scale war. In 2018, Brazhnikov was released. He stayed three years in Kyiv before arriving in France in 2021, where he settled with his wife and child in Grande-Motte, took various small jobs, and then established a multi-service handyman company.
His lawyer contests the legitimacy of the detention and argues that France is not competent to judge this case, maintaining that this responsibility falls to the Ukrainian authorities. He also argues that the testimonies of former fellow prisoners who accuse his client are contradictory. According to the defence, Brazhnikov is now at the heart of a diplomatic tangle between Paris, Kyiv and Moscow, serving as a bargaining chip without the facts being truly established.
France is attempting to define precisely the role he played. A further hearing, scheduled for next month, is to determine the continuation of his legal proceedings.
Source: Google News MA — Crime (fr)