Russia sentences Ukrainian POWs to 13-23 years in prison in Azov case

A military court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced 23 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) who served in the Azov Regiment of the Ukrainian defence forces to imprisonment in a maximum-security colony. Twelve of them received real sentences ranging from 13 to 23 years, while the rest were given sentences in absentia.

Source: Mediazona, a Russian online media outlet

Quote: "The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced Ukrainian POWs who served in the Azov Regiment in different years to real terms of imprisonment in a maximum-security penal colony."

Details: Mediazona reported that three judges, led by Vyacheslav Korsakov, passed sentences on the Ukrainian POWs: Yaroslav Zhdamarov, Oleksandr Merochenets, Mykyta Tymonin, Oleksandr Mukhin, Oleh Tyshkul and Artur Hretskyi, who received 22 years in a strict regime colony; Oleksandr Irkh and Artem Hrebeshkov, who were sentenced to 20 years each; Oleh Myzhhorodskyi, who received 17 years; Oleh Zharkov, sentenced to 13 years; Anatolii Hrytsyk, who received 19 years; and Oleksii Smykov, who was given 23 years. All of them plan to appeal the verdict.

The men were brought to court in handcuffs. Before the verdict was announced, Oleh Zharkov fell ill and an ambulance was called due to stomach pain.

Eleven people were sentenced in absentia as they had been brought back to Ukraine as part of a prisoner swap. Davyd Kasatkyn and Dmytro Labinskyi were each given 23 years in a strict regime colony.

Nine women who served as military cooks were sentenced in absentia to a general regime colony for terms ranging from 13 to 14 years. All of them were swapped in September of the previous year.

Depending on the charges, the prosecutor requested varying prison terms for every person, ranging from 13 to 24 years. The case against Oleksandr Ishchenko, who died in pre-trial detention, was closed, and therefore, he was not sentenced.

In court, the defendants repeatedly stated that their testimonies had been falsified, that they had been interrogated without lawyers present, subjected to humiliating treatment, denied medical care and suffered torture.  

"I saw bags on people's heads, wires on different limbs, broken ribs, damaged kidneys, people beaten to death, hunger for more than a year, no medical care, people rotting, legs, arms, lice, bedbugs. Twice a year, we went to the shower – we came out dirtier than we went in, and we were beaten," Mykyta Tymonin said in his closing statement.

Background:

• On 18 October 2024, Ukrainian human rights activist and serviceman Maksym Butkevych was released from Russian captivity.
• Butkevych, who fought in Ukraine's east as part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, was captured by Russian troops in the summer of 2022. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison in March 2023 by a "court" in the so-called "Luhansk People's Republic," a Russian-backed terrorist organisation.

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