The Chewbacca Case

The Case

A serviceman is under criminal prosecution for actions during a combat mission.

February 27, 2022 – the first days of a full-scale invasion. The military is carrying out a mission in the Odessa region. Their car is being pursued: another car is making dangerous maneuvers, blocking traffic, and ignoring stop signals.

On the same day, sabotage and reconnaissance groups (DRG) attack military personnel in Odessa. In particular, there is information about an armed attack in which the head of the Southern Military District, Colonel Stanislav Yarmola, and two of his assistants were wounded.

Military man Serhiy Skotar tries to signal a car to stop, showing the identification marks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The driver of the pursuers:
🔸 Blinds him with high beam.
🔸 He presses the gas sharply and tries to run over.
🔸 Serhiy barely avoids the blow and fires warning shots into the air.

The car does not stop, but blocks the officers in their car. The military decides to stop the vehicle by firing shots at the wheels. The car disappears in an unknown direction. After 15-30 minutes it becomes known: the driver died from blood loss.

It is still unknown whose shot killed the driver. The investigation did not even consider the DRG version. Serhiy's weapon was confiscated only a year and a half later, when he returned from combat operations. The driver was intoxicated. There was a passenger in the car, whom the police did not question.

Instead of a full and impartial investigation, investigators of the Main Police Department of Odessa region are preparing a charge against Serhiy under Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (intentional murder).

This case is another dangerous precedent. A similar story was in the case of border guard Kolmogorov, when in September 2014, when Russian troops were conducting an offensive in the Donetsk region, he was ordered to open fire when intercepting a suspicious car. Only thanks to public attention was it possible to achieve justice for Sergei Kolmogorov. 

Why is a soldier who acted in a combat mission now forced to prove his innocence?