Russian daily accuses military contractor of war crimes

MOSCOW Russian private military contractor Wagner was accused by a Moscow-based daily on Wednesday of war crimes in Syria. In a report titled Thugs 2.0, Novaya Gazeta published footage of the murder of Syrian national Hammadi Taha al-But by Wagner mercenaries. According to the newspaper, Hammadi was captured in June 2017 during a battle with the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group for the al-Shaer gas field in central Syria. He was allegedly tortured and decapitated and his body burnt with his head hung on the fence of a nearby gas processing plant. After reporters in Novaya Gazeta identified one of the murderers, Stanislav Dychko, the newspaper submitted its relevant materials as evidence to Russian investigators and the country's Attorney General, asking for the incident to be verified and for its alleged perpetrators to be punished. Authorities are yet to respond. The daily's editorial board claimed that it provided all necessary facts to open a criminal investigation, including the time and place of the incident, at least one participant in the crime and quality footage and photographs that allowed the other accomplices to be identified. The board also invoked the Russian Criminal Code, which, besides imposes life imprisonment for premeditated murder, also sentences for up to 20 years those guilty of ill treatment of combatant or civilian prisoners during war. Novaya Gazeta published documents showing that the al-Shaer gas field was captured by Russian firm EuroPolice, associated with Wagner, whose director, Evgeny Prigozhin, it said was considered to be close to the Russian authorities. The Wagner Group is also allegedly involved in the Libyan conflict, where it brought Russian pilots to train forces loyal to renegade general Khalifa Haftar fighting the UN-recognized Government of National Accord. On January 11, Turkish President Recep Erdogan said that more than 2,000 Wagner mercenaries were currently fighting in Libya. President Vladimir Putin, asked about Russia's involvement in the Libyan conflict, replied that no Russian servicemen were in Libya acting on behalf of the Russian state or receiving payment from Russia.