Russia has convicted 23 Ukrainian prisoners of war on terrorism charges related to the conflict in Ukraine in a military court trial that Kyiv has denounced as sham and in violation of international law.
According to Russian media and human rights activists, the defendants included current or former members of the elite Azov Brigade, which Russia has classified as a terrorist organization, as well as people who worked for it as cooks or support staff.
The prominent Russian human rights group Memorial described the defendants as political prisoners, noting that some of them were captured in 2022 during fighting in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where they held the Azovstal steel plant under siege by Russian troops.
Others were detained while trying to leave the city after it was captured by Russian forces, the group said.
On Wednesday, only 12 defendants appeared in court in Rostov-on-Don, while another 11, including nine women, returned to Ukraine as part of a prisoner exchange and were convicted in absentia.
One of the accused died in custody last year and the case against him was closed.
All were charged with plotting a violent coup and operating a terrorist group. Some were additionally charged with preparing to commit terrorist activity.
The convicted persons received prison terms ranging from 13 to 23 years.
The 12 people still in custody in Russia will serve their sentences in maximum-security prisons, the court said. Russian independent news outlet Mediazona reported that all 12 plan to appeal their sentences.
Memorial emphasized that “none of the accused are accused of committing war crimes: they are being tried only for the fact of serving” in Azov at different periods of time.
Ukraine's Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets condemned the trials, which began in June 2023, calling them “another sham trial” conducted for Russia's “own amusement.”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
