Major who shot and killed a soldier sentenced to 13 years

Major Vennikov who on 6 August while on duty shot and killed rank and file soldier Pashchenko was convicted of murder and sentenced on Friday 8 December to 13 years imprisonment by the court of the Cherkasy Garrison

The claim by the parents of the murdered soldier for moral compensation was partially upheld with Vennikov ordered to pay each parent 125 thousand UH.

It is not known whether the ruling is to be appealed.

The tragedy happened in a military unit of chemical weapons forces which are stationed in the Poltava  region. The soldier who had been called up from Poltava had only one and a half months of his military service remaining.

Another tragedy, already reported here, took place at the No. 169 Infantry Training Centre in the Chernihiv region on 27 November where an 18-year-old conscript died after severe beating by two corporals. The Minister of Defence Anatoly Hryshchenko stated that the corporals deserved the maximum possible punishment.

“I will say bluntly that I consider that these two corporals, these – I won’t mince words – scum, who beat a soldier to death, these people must face, in my view the maximum sentence envisaged by our criminal code”.