Tigran Hovhannesyan and Nikita Khanganov were accused by the occupiers of preparing sabotage. Human rights activists say that the teenagers have been persecuted since the fall. The Russian military repeatedly tortured them and simulated their execution.
The Russian occupiers killed two teenagers in Berdyansk — Tigran Hovhanesyan and Nikita Khanganov. The Children's Search Service stated that the boys faced up to 20 years in prison on a fabricated case, UAINFO.org informs with reference to "Focus".
It is noted that during the year, the Children's Search Service, together with human rights defenders, covered the history of persecution of Tigran Hovhannesyan and Nikita Khaganov by Russian security forces. They sought maximum publicity and attracted the attention of the international community.
The occupiers accused two teenagers of preparing sabotage on the Melitopol railway. However, before the accusation, security forces tortured Hovhanesyan and Khanganov and their families for several days.
Also, the coordinator of the Media Initiative for Human Rights (MIPL) Olga Reshetylova adds a few more facts about teenagers. In September 2022, "investigators" kidnapped Tigran from the house where he lived with his grandmother. The occupiers tortured him for 5 days. The grandmother came to the station every day and asked to let her grandson go. But they did not let him go, moreover, they tortured Tigran with electric current, took him to the field and simulated his execution.
Investigators were preparing the case for court. After the accusation, the friends were separated. They wanted to charge Nikita with theft, and Tigran with preparing sabotage. A few days ago, an investigator came for the teenagers with an armed convoy, but they managed to escape from them. The European Parliament adopted a resolution regarding Tigran and Nikita and demanded that the occupiers release them from the occupation.
The day before the murder, the boys were at the occupation police station. Half an hour before the investigator called the parents that the boys had been killed, Tigran's mother talked to him. He told her that they were walking with Nikita and were thinking about how to celebrate Nikita's birthday. Today, June 25, the boy would have turned 17 years old.
"Currently, we see a lot of inconsistencies in the facts, time, clothes. The parents have not seen the bodies of the boys yet. Instead, relatives have been tortured with interrogations and searches since yesterday evening. This gives reason to question the main version of the investigator about the attack on the policemen. At least the parents of Tigran and Nikita believe that this whole shootout, the death video is a set-up to kill the boys," Reshetylova said.
Ukrainian investigative bodies initiated criminal proceedings for the murder of children. The MIPL is also conducting its own investigation into the circumstances of the murder.
In turn, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets confirmed the murder of two teenagers by Russians in occupied Berdyansk.
"Two boys born in 2006, Tigran Ohanisyan and Nikita Khanganov, engaged in a battle with the occupiers. As is known, they killed a Russian soldier and a police collaborator. After the shootout, the invaders announced the "liquidation" of the boys," the ombudsman wrote.
Earlier, teenagers and their relatives were persecuted by the occupiers. Tigran Hovhannisyan was kidnapped, interrogated and tortured with electric current. In May, the teenagers were charged by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation with allegedly preparing sabotage on the railway. They faced up to 20 years in prison, Lubinets said.
"When the situation became public, the European Parliament demanded that the boys be released to the territory controlled by Ukraine - the Russians did not let them go. We, for our part, tried to return the boys home in different ways. Today, two 16-year-old boys became heroes. The last words of one of them were: "Glory To Ukraine!". There are not enough words to describe the feeling of pride for the young men who resisted the occupiers," the ombudsman said.
"The Russian Federation must be punished! The murderers must be convicted! And the whole world must understand that human rights are violated every day in the occupied territories. And until Ukraine returns its territories, this will continue and continue," said Lubinets.
