The State Department said Friday on the introduction of restrictions against “Colonel of the Russian Armed Forces Azatbek Omurbekov, also known as the “Butcher of Bucha”, for his involvement in serious human rights violations, namely the murders of unarmed Ukrainian civilians in Andreevka.”
“Colonel Omurbekov was the commander of the Russian 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade when Russian troops controlled the Ukrainian village of Andreevka. “Omurbekov then commanded the same brigade in Bucha, where, as the State Department established, they killed, beat, dismembered and burned civilians,” the State Department statement said.
Omurbekov, Frolkin and their relatives are deprived of the right to enter the United States.
“Reports about Omurbekov and Frolkin’s involvement in serious human rights violations, confirmed by NGOs and independent investigations, are serious and credible. “The United States reaffirms its commitment to protecting human rights by recognizing the injustices faced by victims and promoting accountability for those who violate human rights,” the State Department said in a statement.
The Russian Ministry of Armor described the images of Bucha with dozens of corpses of civilians killed in March last year as a “provocation.” According to the State Department, Colonel Omurbekov has been promoted.
The city of Bucha, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital Kiev, became one of the first sites of clashes between Ukrainian troops and Russian special forces after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. .
Russian forces held Bucha from 5 to 31 March. After Ukraine liberated Bucha on April 1, foreign journalists visited the city and international news agencies began publishing shocking photographs and video evidence of the slaughter of civilians.
During the investigation, the bodies of more than 30 people dressed in civilian clothes were discovered in the streets of Bucha and in the courtyards of residential buildings. Another 67 bodies were exhumed from a mass grave near the church of St. Andrew the First Called and All Saints.
Ukrainian police forensics determined that 40 of the victims were civilians and that several dozen people died as a result of gunshot wounds to the head and body.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) investigated and confirmed the allegations against the Russian military: “HRW researchers working in Bucha from April 4 to 10, several days after Russian troops withdrew from the area, found ample evidence of executions and extrajudicial investigations, other unlawful killings, disappearances, rape and torture, which may constitute war crimes and potentially crimes against humanity.”
As of October 31, 2022, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), as a result of an audit conducted by a team of more than one hundred people, documented that 73 civilians were killed during the Russian occupation in Bucha. . OHCHR reported that many local residents were shot dead simply for being on the street.
