They were considered heroes on the front lines

The “Tornado” volunteer battalion was established in 2014 and belonged to the structures of the Ministry of the Interior. From December 2014 to April 2015, it operated in the hottest areas, the so-called anti-terrorist operation (ATO), incl. in Debaltsev, Piaski and Stanica Ługańska.

In March 2015, military prosecutors accused his soldiers of creating a criminal organization, beatings and sexual offenses, on June 17, eight of them, including Commander Ruslan Onyshchenko, were arrested.

Murder of women accused of separatism, gang rape and torture. Ukraine holds its officers accountable

On June 18, 2015, the head of the Ministry of the Interior of Ukraine, Arsen Avakov, disbanded the battalion. In response, the tornadoes barricaded themselves at their base for a while and refused to lay down their weapons. They described the allegations as fabricated and of a political nature. They maintained that their colleagues had been detained because they had fought smuggling from Ukrainian-controlled territories to rebel-controlled territories.

– When we stood on the front lines, we were fired upon and killed, we were considered heroes. Now, when we understood that trade with separatists started [according to the tornadoes, the local administration earned money by smuggling goods on their territory], we started to be regarded as killers – said one of the battalion members quoted by Radio Swoboda.

In July, some of the soldiers that passed the verification were conscripted into the “Myrotworec” battalion.

Torture and violence

Investigators working on this case since 2015 collected 80 volumes of files. The tornadoes also appeared several times during other trials.

Ultimately, 11 soldiers were in the dock. One of them is already serving a prison sentence (in July he was sentenced to 6 years for the brutal rape of a woman in the Luhansk region). 12 are still wanted by wanted posters.

Onyshchenko and his soldiers are charged with 15 paragraphs of the Criminal Code. One of the main charges concerns brutal torture of prisoners of war and detained civilians suspected of having ties to the rebels. Tornadoes were to hit them with various objects, including genitals, throw burning matches on pubic hair, causing extensive burns of intimate areas, use electricity and knives. The victims also spoke of sexual violence, including forcing prisoners to rape each other under the threat of death. The tortures were to be filmed. 

Other charges include kidnapping for ransom, sexual violence against civilians, beatings, robbery and incitement to suicide. However, there is no evidence of the murders (in this part the trial is circumstantial).

“It took a lot of effort to convince these people to choose to testify. Some of them agreed only on the condition that they were provided with special protection, including the change of documents, says the chief military prosecutor of Ukraine Ruslan Kravchenko in an interview with Novoy Gazetoj . The opposition Russian media devoted an extensive article to the trial in Kiev. It was “Nowaja Gazieta” that reported that most of the victims underwent polygraph examination, which confirmed the truthfulness of their testimony. All the accused refused to do so. 

Aggression in court

The process of “Tornadoes” in Kiev has been going on for several months. There have already been cancellations of hearings due to riots in front of the court building. Including ATO participants demanded open hearings, there was also talk of faking allegations for political reasons). 

The court maintains that due to the severity of the crime and the behavior of the accused, there is no question of admitting the audience to the auditorium. Tornadoes behave aggressively, insult the judge and witnesses. They laughed at the crying of the woman who accused them of tormenting her son. They also poured a smelly liquid, possibly feces, into the judges.

“I’ll go out, bitch, and rape your corpse with a rubber dick,” one of them shouted to the judge.

Tornado supporters say that by behaving in this way, soldiers are protesting the unfair trial and bogus allegations.

“Tornado” divides Ukraine

– This is probably another piece of Russian propaganda – these were the first reactions of Ukrainians to photos of brutally beaten people. Especially since they appeared on websites related to the Donbas rebels.

However, further information about the “Tornado” could hardly be attributed to Russian propaganda. The more that the battalion had a poor opinion among the soldiers themselves.

“Various things have been said about them for a long time.” A friend of mine is in another battalion, but he has had contact with them. He left quickly from there. He said they were sick people, says an anonymously a volunteer from the Ukrainian army.

Tetiana Czornovił, a journalist and one of the faces of the Maidan, spoke publicly and under her name (in December 2013, she published an article “Here lives an executioner”, with the address and photos of the property of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Vitaly Zakharchenko, who is blamed for the use of force by the militia against the protesters; the next day she was brutally beaten by unknown perpetrators; when her husband was killed on the Donbas front, she joined the “Azov” battalion in which he fought). The recording in which she talks about the materials of the investigation, which she got acquainted with during the journalistic work on the battalions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, makes a shocking impression.

– Cell phones with horrific videos of sexual orgies and rapes were found at the arrested commanders of the “Tornado”; among the victims were underage girls and even infants, said Chornovil in a television program . 

The defenders of the soldiers accuse her of lying. This was to be proved by her body language and the direction of her gaze. However, they did not explain why – herself having experience from the front – she would unjustifiably accuse other soldiers of such serious crimes.