On Wednesday, May 24, two teenagers from the temporarily occupied Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia region, Tyghran Khovhanisian and Mykyta Khanhanov, received charges from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for allegedly preparing a sabotage on the railway.
According to the Media Initiative for Human Rights, both guys were born in 2006.
“The accusation was preceded by several months of abuse of children and their families, detentions and torture. The children have been assigned local lawyers, one of whom proposes self-incrimination”,- the statement said.
It turned out that since September 30, 2022, Tyhran and Mykyta have been harassed by Russian law enforcement agencies. Tyhran was kidnapped from his house, where he lives with his grandmother. For five days, the relatives did not know anything about the whereabouts of the child. Tigran was severely interrogated by the investigating authorities with the use of beatings and electric shock torture.
Subsequently, Tyhran was released on the condition that he would report daily to the local law enforcement agencies, and Mykyta Khanhanov managed to avoid arrest, but later he was also ordered to report daily to the investigators.
Both teenagers have now been charged under Article 281 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provides for 10 to 20 years in prison.