Igor Garanin, a defendant in the case over attacks on collaborators in Melitopol, told the Southern District Military Court that investigators forced him to “identify” another defendant, Sergei Yevtushenko, by his “earlobes,” even though he had previously seen him only in winter clothes and a hat. The account was reported by Mediazona.
Garanin said he met Yevtushenko in February 2023 and did not see him again before his arrest. Later, during the investigation, when he says he was being held “in garages,” he was told to carry out an identification procedure. According to him, no lawyers were present, and masked officers showed him photographs in advance and indicated which person would appear under the required number.
“The statement says I identified him by his clothes and earlobes, but in February he was wearing warm clothes and a hat,” Garanin recalled in court.
The defendant said he signed the identification record under pressure. He told the court that before trips to the investigator, men without insignia, dressed in military uniform, masks and carrying weapons, warned them not to ask unnecessary questions and to follow orders.
At the previous hearing, the court questioned lawyer Sergei Kostyshak, who had represented Yevtushenko during the pretrial investigation. He could not say whether he had been present during the identification procedure: first he cited attorney-client secrecy, then said he needed to review the record to refresh his memory.
During the latest questioning, Garanin partly admitted the factual side of the charges but disputed classifying his actions as terrorism. He confirmed that he had communicated on Telegram with a man named Maxim, whom he described as “an employee of the Ukrainian special services,” and said that person opposed random civilian casualties. Garanin also said he had not intended to intimidate the population or pressure the authorities, and that earlier statements read out in court had, in his words, been signed after physical and psychological violence.
According to investigators, Igor Garanin and Sergei Yevtushenko organized attacks on collaborator officials in occupied Melitopol in 2022–2023 on instructions from Ukrainian special services. Yelena Roy and Sergei Garkusha are also defendants in the case. Depending on the role attributed to each of them, they are charged with participation in a terrorist community, illegal trafficking of explosives, making improvised explosive devices, a terrorist attack resulting in a death, and preparation for a terrorist attack.
Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office previously said the defendants were accused over two attacks, in November 2022 and on April 27, 2023. The first episode concerns an explosion near the home of Dmitry Trukhin, who headed Melitopol’s department for municipal property, urban planning, property and land relations in the military-civil administration; he survived. In the second episode, Alexander Mishchenko, deputy head of the city police department in Melitopol, was killed.