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The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), working with the Prosecutor General’s Office, has Tuesday charged Ilya Sorokin—a Russian prison medic whom former captives nicknamed “Dr. Evil”—in absentia with “cruel treatment of prisoners of war (POWs).” Authorities said they launched the in-absentia procedure because Sorokin is hiding or refusing to take part in the investigation or trial.
According to the authorities, Sorokin, a paramedic at Medical Unit No. 10 of Russia’s Penal Colony No. 10, “committed cruel treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war” while providing medical services there. Officials said his actions involved the use and threat of physical and psychological violence against Ukrainian servicemen who had POW status and were held in the colony “for the fact of their military service… and for their participation in deterring armed aggression against Ukraine.”
Andriy Yakovlev, a lawyer with the Regional Center for Human Rights, said an in-absentia investigation allows authorities to document evidence and circumstances even when a suspect cannot be detained. It proceeds without the accused but with a state-appointed defense attorney “who must protect their interests,” he said. If the case goes to trial and results in a verdict, that ruling can be submitted for enforcement abroad. The mechanism lets Ukraine investigate war crimes “without waiting for the end of the war,” Yakovlev added.
Earlier this year, reporters from RFE/RL’s Schemes interviewed dozens of former Ukrainian POWs who had returned from Mordovia’s Colony No. 10. They described a medic who beat them and denied medical care, calling him “Dr. Evil.” Schemes identified him as Sorokin, a 35-year-old father of two. When briefly reached by reporters, he denied the allegations.
Marine Pavlo Afisov, who spent 614 days in Colony No. 10 and was among the first to identify Sorokin as Dr. Evil, said the charge is a step toward accountability. Sorokin’s “constant moral and physical abuse of every prisoner of war should not give him the right to freely and safely enjoy life,” he said. Afisov added that he will monitor the case and believes “such evil as him, and those like him, will cease to exist very soon.”
Another former POW who helped journalists identify Dr. Evil, Oleksandr Savov, returned from Russian captivity with tuberculosis and scars from electric shocks he said Sorokin inflicted. He died on November 16, 2025.
As of December 2, journalists could no longer reach Sorokin through his Telegram account, which appears to have been deleted. When reporters last contacted Sorokin in October—after the European Union sanctioned him for alleged breaches of the Geneva Conventions and supporting Russia’s war effort—his messages showed as read, but he did not respond.
