The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced three defendants in the case of explosions in occupied Melitopol. Artem Murdid was sentenced to life imprisonment, his wife Anna Voshkoder to 20 years in a general regime colony, and Artem's mother Anna Murdid to 22 years. This was reported by a correspondent of «Mediazona»* from the courtroom. The first 8 years Artem Murdid will spend in prison. He was also fined 900 thousand rubles. His mother was fined 600 thousand, his wife 550.
Anna Voshkoder and Anna Murdid are accused of illegal trafficking of explosives «as part of an organized group», participation in a «terrorist community», a «terrorist act» that resulted in the death of a person, and «attempted act of international terrorism». In addition to the listed charges, Artem Murdid was charged with illegal manufacturing of explosive devices by an organized group.
29-year-old «Oschadbank» collector Artem Murdid lived in the same apartment with his mother, common-law wife, and her child from a previous marriage. The investigation considers all adult family members as participants in a «terrorist community» led from Ukrainian-controlled territory by an «unidentified SBU officer named Oleg».
According to the intelligence agency, in June 2022, «being an adherent of pro-Ukrainian ideology», Artem Murdid «proactively established cooperative relations» with «Oleg», and then involved his wife and mother in the «community's» activities, who «took on the responsibilities of monitoring objects of criminal encroachments» — they monitored the movement of trains on the railway and the movements of officials of the occupation administration. «Oleg» indicated targets and coordinates of caches with explosives to them, transmitted detonators and microchips hidden inside a doll through a contact, and sent Artem instructions for assembling bombs via Telegram.
The only successful attack attributed to the Melitopol residents was the attempt on the director of the State Unitary Enterprise «City Transport» Ivan Tkach. On the evening of March 14, 2023, Murdid, according to the investigation, detonated the car using a remote control when Tkach and an employee of the transport enterprise Elena Sivashchenko were inside. The official died in the hospital, the woman sustained serious injuries but survived.
The other attempted bombings listed in the Melitopol case were unsuccessful. The defendants did not plead guilty and reported that the testimonies were extracted from them under torture.
«I have never in my life committed illegal actions. I learned about the essence of the charges against me only from representatives of the Russian law enforcement agencies, who created certain physical conditions — violence and torture, as a result of which I was forced to give testimonies on which the accusation is based. I sincerely believed that I lived in the territory of Ukraine, and therefore, only Ukrainian legislation applied to me. I have never been an adherent of Nazi ideas, lived in a multinational country, without even thinking that I was treating someone with disdain because of their nationality. I had no intention to harm the interests of the Russian Federation, let alone its citizens. And I never intended to cause discord between the two peoples», said Artem Murdid in his final statement.
His mother Anna also reminded in her final statement that she was subjected to torture: «I want to declare the use of physical violence against me after the arrest — namely, torture with electric current and beatings».
* Recognized as a «foreign agent» in Russia.
Photo: Mediazona