Parents сlaim foul play in death of National Guardsman son, ruling of suicide questioned

Bohdan Hovorukhin, a 24-year-old soldier of the National Guard of Ukraine's military unit No. 3036, served in the Novomoskovsk district of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. On June 19, he was supposed to go on leave and visit his family. However, on June 13, his parents in Kropyvnytskyi were informed by the unit that their son had shot himself with his own assault rifle. Bruises and injuries discovered on Bohdan's body when his family viewed it raised doubts in their minds about the official cause of death given by authorities.

hromadske spoke to the soldier's parents, his commander and the family's lawyer. Here is what we managed to find out.

What alarmed the family

"When we were informed of Bohdan's death on June 13, we were told that the body would be brought back no sooner than in two weeks since it was necessary to conduct an examination," says Volodymyr Hovorukhin, the soldier's father. "But the body was brought the very next day! We immediately had a question: did anyone conduct an examination at all? The notification we received said that he died after being shot in the chin with a service weapon. But the bullet hole was not in his chin, but in his neck! And usually, a gunshot to such a place on the face [has] different consequences than the ones we saw in Bohdan's case."

Volodymyr Hovorukhin is a retired judge. According to him, his former lawyer colleagues and forensic experts saw his son's body in the Kropyvnytskyi morgue, and they unanimously agreed that it was not a case of suicide.

"Bohdan's right ear was broken, just hanging loose, his left ear was dented into his head, as if from a kick or fist," says his father. "There was a trace of a blow on the bridge of his nose, his forehead was bruised, and his left arm was bruised as if from a blow with a rifle butt. Did Bohdan commit suicide in this state? Or was he beaten until he was killed, and the shot came later?"

What happened?

According to Volodymyr Hovorukhin, he realized from a conversation with a representative of the military unit that the events had developed as follows: Bohdan was on duty at a checkpoint, started feeling unwell, asked to go to the dugout to take a pill, and shot himself in the dugout.

"They came up with the pill [story] to explain how he ended up in the dugout," Volodymyr believes. "But why was he all blue then? Was he allowed to go on duty with bruises?"

The unit's deputy commander, Lieutenant Colonel Svyatoslav Bileychuk, shared a different story with us:

"Hovorukhin was always positive, but on that last duty he was overexcited, ‘wound up’, he refused to serve at the checkpoint and went to rest in the dugout at an unspecified time. This caused a conflict with other soldiers.

He was forced to come to the checkpoint, and there was even a brawl there – the guys wanted to force him to be on duty. But Hovorukhin returned to the dugout anyway, where he shot himself with a single shot from an assault rifle.

At that moment, another fighter was sleeping on the next bunk, and he woke up from the shot and the fact that Hovorukhin's body had fallen on him as he slept.

All the soldiers have already written explanations, and an internal investigation is underway. It is not over yet. We are not covering up for anyone, we are in favor of an objective investigation and establishing the true facts."

None of the soldiers who wrote explanations about the circumstances of Bohdan Hovorukhin's death called their comrade's parents to express condolences after his death.

"Most likely, they are following the instructions of senior commanders," says Volodymyr Hovorukhin.

Stress? Alcohol? Drugs?

Bohdan, according to his parents, wrote to them every day. In recent weeks, they all dreamed of his leave together.

"The last time he wrote was on June 12, at about 4 p.m.," says Volodymyr Hovorukhin. "He asked how we were feeling. My wife and I had recently undergone surgeries, and my son was concerned about our health. He confirmed his arrival on June 19. He was absolutely calm, as always.

And I will say this: Bohdan knew how sick my wife and I were, he knew about the surgeries, he would never do anything that could upset his sick parents, make us unhappy. In general, Bohdan, who had a law degree, was a prudent, responsible person, incapable of acting on emotion."

Volodymyr does not believe that his son could have been under stress on the eve of his death. Bohdan had a calm disposition, was very reserved, and had served in the Anti-Terrorist Operation twice – what could have caused him stress at a checkpoint in the rear?

"I rule out alcohol. How could he be drunk at a checkpoint? Which of the sane commanders could have assigned him to duty drunk? It's a violation," his father says.

"After Hovorukhin's death, he was tested for alcohol and drugs," says Lieutenant Colonel Bileychuk. "We don't know anything about the results of the examination, they are being passed on to the investigator. Hovorukhin was very agitated on that duty. Perhaps the examination will reveal something in his body. But we can't make assumptions, we have to wait for official conclusions."

So what about the examination?

Drawing on his experience as a judge, Volodymyr Hovorukhin states that the examination usually lasts no more than a week. That is, its results should have been received in late June. Lieutenant Colonel Bileychuk, on the other hand, says that the examination will last at least a month.

At the time of our conversation with the father and the commander (July 17), both confirmed that they had no information about the official conclusions of the examination.

Bohdan Hovorukhin's parents believe that the military unit is not interested in investigating all the circumstances of the tragedy.

"If it turns out that the officers committed illegal actions, the State Bureau of Investigation will be tasked with investigating them as officials," says Volodymyr Hovorukhin. "But can the officers be interested in this? I have a suspicion that they are interested in covering up this case."

Bohdan’s father is now determined to exhume his son's body and order an independent examination of the cause of his death. However, the legal path to this is quite complicated.

"First of all, Volodymyr Hovorukhin, as a relative of the deceased, needs to be involved in the criminal case as a victim," says Oleksandr Tkachenko, the Hovorukhins' lawyer. "After that, I will be able to file an application with the investigator to allow me to get acquainted with the criminal case file. They will include the conclusions of the forensic medical examination and the results of the internal investigation conducted in the military unit. Before familiarizing ourselves with the case, neither I nor my parents can draw any conclusions about the course of events at the checkpoint on June 13."

The only thing that is currently confusing the lawyer is the strange delay with his requests to the investigator in Novomoskovsk. They were sent both by e-mail and by registered letter and for some reason, they did not reach the addressee.

Only after the lawyer sent his request by mail courier did the investigator confirm its receipt. But at first, he refused to include Bohdan's brother as a victim in the criminal case, finding flaws in the algorithm for submitting requests. So Tkachenko had to file a new request to have Bohdan's father recognized as a victim.

This red tape has been going on for a month. The lawyer still does not know whether a criminal case has been registered to establish the fact of Bohdan Hovorukhin's death.

"Thanks to journalists, my son's case is gaining publicity, and I hope that the investigator will not delay it even further," says Volodymyr Hovorukhin. "If the current investigator does not allow the exhumation, we will appeal to the court investigator, we will seek the truth. However, I'm in no hurry to give any assessments until our lawyer gets acquainted with the criminal case file."

According to the lawyer, if everything goes well, he will be able to familiarize himself with the case file in a few weeks. And hromadske will then inform its readers about the facts set forth in it.

On the morning of July 18, before the publication of this text, we received a call from Lieutenant Colonel Bileychuk asking us to take a balanced approach to the coverage of the events surrounding the death of Bohdan Hovorukhin. According to the lieutenant colonel, Bohdan's parents are already spreading false information about those events, distorting facts and turning the public against the unit's soldiers.

Lieutenant Colonel Bileychuk was one of those who wrote the explanation as part of the investigation into the incident. He claims that he is interested in a thorough investigation of the events and in clarifying all the circumstances, as are other members of the unit.

We will have to wait for the results of the investigation to find out whose interest was truly sincere.