(Previous Incident Code: RUK0090B)

On March 20th, 2022, an alleged Russian artillery shelling hit a penitentiary building and neighboring residential buildings, killing one civilian inside the prison, in the town of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.

Sources unanimously account for one convict being hit by shrapnel in the lower back and died later in the hospital, with the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group reporting on the issues related to the evacuation of prisons and pretrial detention centers in case of attacks, with convicts remaining in their cells most of the air alerts. Moreover, majority of sources, including Kharkiv Times, quoted the announcement of an investigation led by the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office and the State Security Service of Ukraine in the Kharkiv Region on the basis of “violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder (Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).”

As a result of the shelling the penal institutions building was partially destroyed.

The suspected attacker is alleged to be Russia, as reported by Kharkiv Times, Interfax, and Gordon ua.

This incident has ACLED’s reference code UKR54068.