– The whole family was in tears when we watched the video… He was killed like an animal, Ilya Nuzhin tells the Russian human rights group Gulagu.netaccording to The Guardian.
He is the son of the man to be executed in the video, and says the family only learned of his father’s death when they saw the video, which left them “stunned”.
Russian mercenary executed with a club
Hit with a bat
video, as Dagbladet said on Mondayand posted on the Telegram messaging service, shows a man who identifies himself as Yevgeny Nuzhin.
With his head tied to a brick wall, he was hit with a sledgehammer in the head and neck, before collapsing and receiving another blow.
The son confirms to The Guardian that it is his father, 55-year-old Yevgeny Nuzhin, to be seen executed, but does not want to comment further for “security reasons”.
CLOSE TIES: The oligarch and friend of Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is the leader of the Wagner mercenary group. On Sunday he said Nuzhin was a “traitor” who had sided with Ukraine. Photo: Alexey Druzhinin / Sputnik / AFP / NTB
sea View
– Traitor
The Russian oligarch, friend of Putin and founder of the infamous Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhinhe said Sunday that the video showed Nuzjin being executed.
He called the former mercenary “a traitor” who had switched sides to “fight the Russians,” Reuters wrote.
Must have been beaten in custody
It has not been officially confirmed who is behind the video that will show Nuzjin’s execution, but the video was published, among other things, on a Telegram account linked to the Wagner group with the title “The hammer of revenge”.
– Nuzhin betrayed his people, comrades and deliberately let us down. Nuzjin was a traitor, Wagner’s leader said in a statement through his spokeswoman on Sunday.
Punished for murder
According to The Guardian, the 55-year-old Nuzhin was serving a 24-year prison sentence for a murder he committed in 1999 when he was released in July and recruited by Wagner to fight in Ukraine. It is said here that he was captured by Ukrainian forces in September.
Nuzjin gave several interviews during his time in the war-torn country, saying he joined the mercenary group to escape prison. The plan was to surrender Ukraine.
In several interviews, Nuzhin criticized the Russian leadership and expressed a desire to join the Ukrainian forces to fight against Russia, writes The Guardian.
The shirt amazes
– Ukraine had a responsibility
It is unknown how Nuzhin returned to Russia after being captured by Ukrainian forces. Unconfirmed reports claim that he was supposed to be part of a recent prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine, which has caused concern among human rights groups, writes The Guardian.
– Ukraine had a responsibility to Nuzhin, and he shouldn’t have been traded given the dangers he faced in Russia, Vladimir Osechkin, head of human rights group Gulagu.net, told The Guardian.
The group focuses in particular on the alleged abuses of the Russian prison system.
Osechkin also says that everything indicates that the Wagner group is behind the execution and that he wants to send a request for the Russian authorities to investigate the murder.
– Wagner could not have had the opportunity to commit this medieval execution without the approval of the Russian security authorities.
Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin only confirmed in September this year that he was behind the notorious group. The oligarch, who has close ties to the Kremlin, said at the time he set up the private military company to send fighters to Donbass in 2014.
He also confirmed that soldiers from the group have been active in Africa and Latin America. Private military companies are basically banned in Russia, and the Kremlin and political leadership deny having anything to do with the group, NTB previously wrote.
