What Is Known About Wagner PMC Mercenary, Executed With Sledgehammer

He was tried four times in Ukraine and once in Russia.

The Gray Zone Telegram channel, close to the Wagner PMC, published a video of an allegedly yet another execution of a mercenary who had surrendered to Ukrainian captivity. The man introduces himself as Dmitry Yakushchenko and says that he fought as part of a PMC, but on the front line he realized that this was not his war. Then Yakushchenko is allegedly killed with a sledgehammer. The Telegram channel “We Can Explain” found out the details of his biography, having read the court documents.

Yakushchenko was born in the Crimean village of Lenino. As follows from court decisions, he finished 9 classes, did not work for a long time, and was not married. Since 2000, Yakushchenko has been tried 4 times in Ukraine.

He received his first term in March 2000 for improper performance of medical duties that caused serious bodily harm or death. The man was sentenced to two years in prison. In 2003 and 2009, he was tried for theft, attempt on the life of an official and other crimes. Several times Yakushchenko was released on parole.

In January 2013, Yakushchenko received his last term in Ukraine. He was tried for stealing two heating batteries from a private house. The man pleaded guilty and returned the batteries. But as repeatedly convicted, he was given a real term — three years in jail.

In December 2015, Yakushchenko was again released on parole (already in the annexed Crimea) and settled in a hostel, without having received registration in the Russian Federation. And less than three years later he committed the most serious crime — murder with extreme cruelty. As follows from the verdict, Yakushchenko, along with two comrades, attacked a local resident in order to steal his property. During the robbery, the victim was killed. In 2019, the jury found all three guilty. Yakushchenko received the longest sentence of them — 19 years in a reinforced-security colony. He was transferred to Engels.

While in the penal colony #2, Yakushchenko asked that his sentences be brought into line with Russian law, hoping for shorter sentences. But the court refused him.