In the first days of the war, in an atmosphere of complete uncertainty and shock in which the entire country found itself, a tragedy occurred in the border village of Kuchurgan, Odesa region, which is a direct consequence of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation.
On the night of February 26-27, 2022, near the closed checkpoint across the state border in Kuchurgan, which stopped working with the start of the war, a shooting occurred during an attempt to illegally cross the border. As a result, citizens of Azerbaijan were killed - three died on the spot, another died later in the hospital. Valery Pronk, a soldier of the Rozdilnya Terrodefense, was accused of this incident.
Now this high-profile case, which for obvious reasons concerns the interests of another state, is being considered in the Separation Court of Odesa Region, and, at first glance, it seems very simple. At the same time, in the course of the investigation, it became clear that the situation is far from as clear-cut as the prosecution - the military prosecutor's office - is trying to show. In this regard EliteExpert decided to analyze this incident as thoroughly and objectively as possible.
Let's start with the fact that the investigation has already collected a significant amount of witness statements, and this allows us to reconstruct the picture of the events of that night with an accuracy of up to a minute. Therefore, it should be noted right away that the case took place at night, under insufficient lighting, in a border village, and most importantly - during the curfew, when civilians were categorically forbidden to be outside.
The patrol, which consisted of several crews just called up for the mobilization of Teroborona fighters and one policeman, received an operational signal from the State Border Service through official channels that a group of saboteurs led by a guide on I'm Radu. This information is confirmed by numerous witness statements and publications in Telegram channels.
Later it became known that a group of Azerbaijani citizens, most of whom were in the country illegally, tried to cross the border of Ukraine in any way, with the help of "gray" guides.
Anticipating the possibility of an armed breakthrough, police forces, border guards and TRO fighters were called to the settlement. After arriving at the place, a group of foreigners was discovered: several cars and about ten people were stopped near the state border, who were there during the curfew. The military officers ordered them to get out of the car and present their documents, but in the general atmosphere of nervousness and chaos of the first days of the war, the Azerbaijanis disobeyed the command and began to flee towards the border, realizing the illegality of their stay on the territory of Ukraine. Only after they disobeyed the team of border guards, which gave reason to suspect them of being saboteurs, and shots rang out. At the same time, according to the testimony of eyewitnesses, first shots were fired in the air, and only then - at the feet of fleeing people. Unfortunately, it turned out to be fatal - the victims had blocked important arteries, and they died from blood loss within a few hours. (It should be added that immediately after the shooting, the fighters tried to provide medical aid to the victims, applied tourniquets, trying to stop the blood loss, and called an ambulance, but it was not possible to save their lives).
The police, ambulance and SBU soon arrived at the scene and recorded everything that happened, but did not rush to assess the event. Only after a number of ambiguous decisions by the police and the prosecutor's office, it was decided to qualify this event as "intentional murder with aggravating circumstances." Thus, this tragedy has now been staged as a show trial - the military prosecutor's office is torpedoing the process, proving that Valery Pronko came to Kuchurgan on purpose to "shoot people" with hooligan motives. This looks as absurd as possible - especially if you take into account the fact that Valeriy, as part of a military patrol, ended up at the scene of the accident only after receiving a signal from the DPSU and an order to go out to apprehend the suspected saboteurs in several crews. At the same time, both before the tragedy and during the next three months, Valery Pronko conscientiously served in the military unit.
Another touch to his portrait - Valeriy was one of the first volunteers of the Rozdilnian Military Police, who appeared at the military commissariat on February 25, 2022 and went to defend the homeland with weapons in hand.
We will put aside the question of how the fighters should have acted in the first days of the war, when the landing of the Russian landing force was expected in Odesa, Zmiiny Island was captured, and the area was overrun by enemy agents, and citizens of Azerbaijan who disobeyed the order of the military patrol were mistaken for DRG members. based on the operational information of the policemen who were part of the crew.
It is not at all about the fact that the fighter Valery Pronko, mobilized to the ranks of Teroborona only a day before this event, is not guilty of the death of four people. Yes, with a high probability, it was he who used the weapon in the conditions of curfew and martial law, he does not deny it - the problem is in the criminal qualification of the case.
The military prosecutor's office accuses the serviceman of intentional murder group of persons for hooligan motives, and in fact it is about exceeding the measures necessary to detain potentially dangerous suspects in wartime conditions. That is, we are talking about a deliberately wrong qualification of a criminal offense in an attempt to increase the detection rate of serious crimes.
But is it possible to compare a soldier with a standard weapon, sober and acting according to the statute in the conditions and circumstances of wartime, while shooting in the legs - with some drunken "shooter" who shot random passers-by who he did not like, for hooligan motives?
And the prosecution, in the person of the military prosecutor's office, puts a sign of equality between them and the appropriate punishment, up to life imprisonment... Then the question arises, how should other servicemen behave, if it is necessary to use weapons in war conditions: they need to think about the defense of the country or about the fact that tomorrow they can be imprisoned?
It is important to note that several servicemen from Valery Pronk's unit, including witnesses in this case, have already died in Bakhmut and Kherson. Valery himself was arrested only 4 months later, when the results of the ballistic examination came, which showed that the victims died from bullets fired from his machine gun.
At the same time, as the lawyer of the accused Ilya Haldai claims , — "the defendant behaved as correctly as possible during the pre-trial investigation, contributed to the investigation, gave evidence, participated in investigative experiments, did not try to escape, and moreover - continued to serve in the military unit formed on the basis of the Rozdilnya TRO."
The lawyer states that the specialized prosecutor's office simply ignores the fact that some of the bullets are significantly deformed, and therefore people could have died as a result of their ricochet off the asphalt, and not as a result of a purposeful line on them.
Unfortunately, the trial of volunteer soldier Valery Pronko, who has been in custody for almost a year, although he could continue to defend the country, has clear signs of a show trial against a serviceman, which negatively affects the general morale of his comrades and the combat capability of the Armed Forces in general.
It seems that the formalism of the law enforcement system and the race for indicators are still a priority for law enforcement officers - instead of an objective investigation of events. The prosecutor's office is probably afraid to give an objective assessment of what happened, trying to shift this responsibility to the court.
The ElitExpert rating agency intends to draw wide public attention to this trial in connection with the public importance of the case, as well as the obvious injustice to the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
We will continue to monitor the situation closely.
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