Russian Commander Solovov Faces Charges of Keeping Hundreds of People in the Basement of a Yahidne Village School
The Chernihiv Raion Court held the first hearing on the merits of the case against Russian serviceman Semyon Solovov, call sign “Klen”, who is charged with violating the laws and customs of war (Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The prosecutor’s office established that it was he who had ordered to hold civilians from the village of Yahidne in the basement. Those who carried out this order have already been convicted.
The village of Yahidne was under Russian occupation from March 3 to March 30, 2022. Russian soldiers occupied houses, and all the locals were driven into a cramped, suffocating basement of the school. There, 369 people spent the entire month of occupation without water and food. Ten of them died. The Prosecutor General’s Office claims that occupiers established their headquarters at the school and used people as a human shield so that the Ukrainian Armed Forces could not attack them.
Who is prosecuted
On March 12, 2024, the Chernihiv Raion Court sentenced 15 Russian servicepersons in absentia to 12 years in prison for violating the laws and customs of war. It took the court seven months to examine written evidence and conduct interrogations of the victims. The sentence was given to Suvan Siin-ool, Mongush Aygarim, Mongush Nazity, Oorzhak Eres, Khertek Arian, Khomushku Sayan Singit-oolovich, Borisov Aleksey, Dadar-ool Buyan, Dambar-ool Sholban, Demir-ool Dorzhu, Kenden Sain, Mongush Vitali, Saaya Arzhaan, Dorzhu Buyan, Kendenov Amir. Appeals were filed by their lawyers Mykola Kashuba and Yurii Savytskyi appointed by the Free Secondary Legal Assistance Center.
15 Russian service persons convicted in the Yahidne case. Photo: Prosecutor General’s Office
The lawyers noted that the indictment referred to Tuvans, that is, men of Asian appearance, while victims testified in court that there had also been people of Slavic appearance among the basement guards.
“I asked all the victims: “Who can you recognize in the photos presented to you?” None of the 84 victims who gave evidence could recognize any of the accused Tuvans,” said lawyer Kashuba.
But the first instance court’s verdict was upheld by the Chernihiv Court of Appeal.
Although most of the victims mentioned Klen in their testimonies. For a long time it was not known at all who he was. Suspilne journalists spent more than a year trying to identify him based on stories told by people from Yahidne and finally presented their findings on November 23, 2023. Klen turned out to be Semyon Solovov.
Russian serviceman Semyon Solovov, aka Klen, identified by the journalists. Photo: social media
At first, the journalists had only a general description — a short officer with a small ginger beard. The team found out which units had been based in Yahidne and used billing data and social networks to find these soldiers. However, Klen was not among them.
He was recognized almost accidentally in a video of a concert given by Yulia Chicherina, a Russian singer who is under the EU sanctions for supporting Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. She travels across the occupied territories and performs for soldiers, including the 228th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment. In a video of her performance, people from Yahidne recognized Klen — this is how the journalists could understand exactly where to look. One of the investigators, representing herself as a volunteer, received his number and learned his full name, personal information and pages on social networks. During the call Klen himself behaved as if it were not him, claiming that real Semyon Solovov had died. The journalists shared their data with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Chernihiv Oblast. SBU officers told them that they had also established the identity of Klen and were working on the case.
Videos in which the journalists saw Semyon Solovov. Photo: a screenshot of the post from the Vkontakte social network
Testimonies and tiredness of victims from giving evidence
84 victims were questioned by the court during the consideration of the case against the Tuvans. For example, 20 residents of Yahidne were summoned to the Chernihiv Raion Court on November 27, 2023. Despite the growing fatigue from communication with the media, fourteen of them came to the court, and their testimonies were heard for six hours.
During interrogations, the lawyers persistently repeated questions about the nationality of the guards and their commanders. And there is a good reason for this — all defendants in the case are Tuvans, that is, they have Asian features. However, Yahidne residents say that orders were given by a man of Slavic appearance, who was responsible for the decision to keep people in the basement.
One of the victims, Anna, spent ten days in the basement together with her husband and children. At the trial, she spoke about Klen even before he faced charges.
“I have already read that he was identified. Semyon Solovov, if I’m not mistaken. He threatened to shoot and throw grenades in order to make us leave our cellar. I replied that we were wounded and could not walk. My son’s leg was injured, and he could not get up. Solovov came down and took my children. He put my Mykhailo on his shoulders and carried him, without letting us say a word or take some of our things or medicines. We had no choice but to go to the school.
This photo of people in the basement of the Yahidne village school was taken by local resident Olha Meniailo, who was also kept there by Russians.
The Russian led Anna’s son and another boy through the forest. Afterwards Mikhail recalled that the soldier warned them to step only in his footprints so as not to set off a mine. The adults went to the school along the main road.
“It was overcrowded,” says Anna about the basement. “The room was smaller than a bathroom, and seven of us had to stay there. There was no light. A generator was connected only in the last few days. No one had access to adequate medical care. The man who took my son shouted, “I know your child has a fragment wound. There is definitely a fragment here.” I stood there and kept quiet, but what could I say? They would not take him to hospital anyway. They treated us very rudely. After what we had been through, we were afraid to even go out when we were released. These almost two weeks were like hell, for children in particular.”
The lawyers asked about the nationality of the Russian soldiers. Anna answered that she had been very scared, and she could remember that, on the day they were taken away, the commander was a Slavic serviceman, and his subordinates were Asians.
After Anna, nine more people were interrogated before the break. All of them told stories more or less similar to hers, although they had ended up in the basement at different times. Volodymyr, Anna’s husband, said that “Buryats were not allowed into the school” — this is what Russian soldiers told him. He noted that there had been many conscripts among them, as well as “mercenaries, not Buryats and not Yakuts.”
Interrogation of victims in the Yahidne case. Photo: MIHR
In her testimony, victim Anastasia, who was forced into the school basement together with her family on March 5, said that they could leave the school only with Klen’s permission, and he had always been near the basement.
The Klen case
On February 21, 2024, the Security Service of Ukraine brought charges against Solovov. At the same time, the trial of the perpetrators, that is, fifteen Tuvans, was underway. On February 27, 2024, during the court debate, prosecutor Serhii Krupko requested to attach to the case of the Tuvans a notice of suspicion to Semyon Solovov, suspected of giving an unlawful order for cruel treatment of civilians in the village of Yahidne. The lawyers objected. In the end, the court refused the prosecutor.
May 17 saw the first preliminary hearing in the case of Semyon Solovov. The courtroom was filled with journalists and representatives of the public, but the hearing was not lengthy. The prosecutor informed that the defendant had been summonsed via the Government Courier newspaper and the website of the Prosecutor General’s Office. In order to move from a preliminary hearing to a hearing on the merits, the dependent should fail to appear three times, so the court set the dates for the next hearings in advance.
Preliminary hearing in the case of Semyon Solovov. Photo: MIHR
The first hearing on the merits was conducted on September 6. In the courtroom, there was only the judge, the prosecutor, and lawyer Tetiana Drobotushchenko, representing Semyon Solovov. There were no other reporters at the hearing, except for a MIHR journalist and a representative of the Chernihiv Educational House for Human Rights. The victims did not come either.
Prosecutor Yaroslav Avdiienko read out the indictment. Semyon Solovov is charged with giving an unlawful order to keep 369 people in a basement in inhumane conditions for the purpose of using them as a human shield to protect the Russian command post from attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The prosecutor informed that civilians had not filed claims. Prosecutor Yaroslav Avdiienko petitioned for the interrogation of 14 victims, believing that there was no need to interrogate the rest. The lawyer supported the petition submitted by the prosecutor. The next hearing was scheduled for November 2.
