A Russian military court has imposed long sentences on 15 members of a Ukrainian paramilitary group on charges of belonging to a "terrorist organization", TASS and Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
The sentences range from 15 to 21 years in prison in a maximum-security penal colony, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation announced.
The convicts were members of the Ukrainian "Aydar" battalion captured in 2022. The trial took place behind closed doors in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. There has been no immediate comment from Kiev on the verdicts, but Ukraine's ombudsman has already called the trial "shameful," Reuters reported.
Human rights groups, including Russia's Memorial, have said the prosecution of Ukrainian soldiers violates the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war. Russia denies this, saying the charges are based on actions that predate the war that began in 2022.
The men were convicted not on charges of war crimes but of belonging to a "terrorist organization" between August 2014 and March 2022, as well as of committing acts aimed at "forcibly seizing power and rejecting the constitutional order of the Russian Federation."
"Aidar" is one of dozens of volunteer battalions created in Ukraine after fighting began with Russian-backed groups that declared separatist "republics" in eastern Ukraine. Later, these units, some originating from ultranationalist circles, were incorporated into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Russian media outlet "Mash" quoted a lawyer for the defendants as saying that two of them had pleaded guilty. The remaining 13 plan to appeal. There are 18 defendants in total, but the trial against three of them will be held separately, TASS noted.