Russians in occupied Berdyansk want to secretly bury murdered Ukrainian teenagers Oganisyan and Khanganov

The occupation authorities of Berdyansk are planning a secret burial of Ukrainian teenagers Tigran Ohannisyan and Mykyta Khanganov, who were killed by Russians on June 24, 2023.

Tigran’s father, Hryhoriy Hovhannisyan, told this to the Media Initiative for Human Rights.

A year after the murder, the Russian occupiers urgently decided to bury the boys in an unmarked grave. They plan to do this in complete secrecy, without informing the relatives about the time or place of burial.

The bodies of the murdered children were not returned to their families for a year. During this time, Russian investigators repeatedly told the families that they would allow them to take and bury the bodies of the teenagers. However, under various pretexts, the occupation authorities refused to hand over the bodies each time. Now they want to bury them as «terrorists.»

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian troops entered Berdyansk on February 27, 2022.

As a reminder, Tigran Hovhannisyan and Mykyta Khanganov were killed by Russians on June 24, 2023, in occupied Berdyansk, Zaporizhzhia. The boys and their families had been persecuted by the Russian occupation authorities since September 2022. Tigran was abducted from his home, tortured, and abused for five days. He was released only after the disappearance of the child was publicized. The family also tried to take Tigran out of the occupation, but the occupiers arrested the boy and his parents and returned them to occupied Berdyansk. For six months, the children were under severe pressure from the occupiers. They were interrogated and forced to participate in «investigative experiments.»

In the last few weeks before the extrajudicial execution, the pressure intensified. Investigators charged the teenagers with preparing a sabotage and planned to bring the case to court.

On the day of the murder, an investigator came to Nikita Khanganov’s house, and they had a long conversation. In the evening, the boys went for a walk and were abducted and killed.

The MHRC believes that Tigran Hovhannisyan and Nikita Khanganov were killed intentionally. The responsibility for this lies with the occupation authorities of Berdyansk, the Rosgvardia unit that was in Berdyansk at the time of the murder, the leadership of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, and the highest military and political leadership of Russia, for whom terror and abuse of civilians are the basis of state policy and occupation practices.