Two Russian soldiers sentenced for life for killing family of nine in DPR

Two Russian servicemen were sentenced for life for the mass murder of civilians in the town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk People's Republic.

Photo: Courtroom One Gavel by Joe Gratz, PDM

On October 28, 2023, contract soldiers Stanislav Rau and Anton Sopov shot the Kapkanets family of nine people, including two children. Two days later, law enforcement officers detained the suspects.

The men were found guilty of illegally entering a home and murdering two or more people, including minors, in a generally dangerous manner. The servicemen were sentenced to life terms.

• Stanislav Rau is 28 years old. He comes from the village of Volchikha in the Altai region of Russia.
• Anton Sopov was born in the village of Yaroslavsky in the Far East of Russia. In 2023, he was convicted of hazing.

The two defendants are not married, they have no dependent children either.

According to investigation, on the night of October 28, the two men entered the private home of the Kapkanets family, where they shot nine people. The men were armed with machine guns designed for silent shooting.

The soldiers killed 53-year-old man Eduard Kapkanets, his wife Tatyana, their two adult sons with their wives, a nine-year-old granddaughter, a four-year-old grandson and a distant relative of the owners.

The neighbors saw the two men in military uniforms driving away from the house on a dirt bike at night. The men were captured by two CCTV cameras installed in Volnovakha, which made it possible to identify its owner — one of the suspects. Later, his accomplice and fellow soldier was detained as well.

According to one version, the tragedy occurred because of alcohol. Local residents assume that the conflict sparked when the head of the family, Eduard Kapkanets, reprimanded the military a few hours before the murder.

At the request of the prosecutor, the trial was held behind closed doors, since the criminal case contained information constituting official secrets in the field of defense.

The defendants did not plead guilty. They are going to appeal the verdict, the Kommersant newspaper said.

Details

The battle of Volnovakha was a military engagement which lasted from 25 February 2022 until 12 March 2022, as part of the Eastern Ukraine offensive during the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict. Russian and DPR forces engaged Ukrainian forces at the small city of Volnovakha in Donetsk Oblast, which was located close to pre-invasion front line. The battle was spearheaded by DPR forces and led to the widespread destruction of the town and heavy casualties on both sides.