Russian-controlled militants sentence 2 Ukrainian Azov Regiment soldiers to 24 years in prison

A court in the illegal Russian-backed formation, Donetsk People’s Republic, has sentenced two captured Ukrainian soldiers who served in the Azov Regiment, Pavlo Artemenko and Anton Romaniuk, to 24 years in prison.

Source: Office of the Military Prosecutor of the Russian Federation

Quote from the Russian Military Prosecutor’s Office: "The court agreed with the position of the state prosecutor, a representative of the Military Prosecutor’s Office of the Joint Group of Forces, and sentenced Artemenko and Romaniuk to 24 years in prison, to be served in a strict-regime penal colony."

["Strict regime penal colonies" are institutions within the Russian penal system where the prisoners face the most restrictions and are housed in locked cells with up to 50 other prisoners - ed.]

Details: The Ukrainian soldiers were accused of deploying a mortar to attack residential buildings during Ukrainian forces’ retreat from Mariupol in late February and early March of 2022.

Five residential buildings were allegedly destroyed, though there were no civilian casualties.

Background:

• In 2022, Russian occupation forces wanted to hold a show trial of the captured defenders of Mariupol’s Azovstal plant in the occupied city of Mariupol on 24 August, Ukraine’s Independence Day.

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