Twenty-three Ukrainian soldiers captured during the fighting in Ukraine were convicted in Russia today on terrorism charges. Kiev criticized the trial as a sham, which it said violated international law, the Associated Press reported, BTA reported.
The convicted are 14 current or former fighters of the elite Azov brigade, which Russia considers a terrorist group, as well as nine women and one man who worked as cooks or other support staff, Russian media and human rights organizations reported. The convicted Ukrainians received sentences ranging from 13 to 23 years in prison.
Twelve of these people were not in the courtroom - 11 of them had already been returned to Ukraine during two prisoner exchanges and were accordingly sentenced in absentia. One died in custody last year.
All of them were accused of organizing a violent coup d'état and organizing the activities of a terrorist organization. Some of them also face an additional charge of training to carry out terrorist activities.
The well-known Russian human rights group “Memorial“, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, defined all of the convicted as political prisoners. According to “Memorial“ some of them were detained in 2002 during the fighting in the port city of Mariupol, where they were held at the Azovstal plant, which was seized by Russian forces. Others were captured while trying to leave the city after it was taken over by Russia, the group notes.
Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubynets condemned the case when it began in June 2023 as yet another "show trial" conducted by Russia for "its own amusement."
"Russia and "transparent justice" have nothing in common. The world must respond to such shameful show trials against Ukrainian defenders," Lubynets said. "It is obvious to everyone that those who should be in the dock are not those who defend themselves, but those who started the aggression, those who conquer foreign land and those who arrive with tanks on the territory of an independent state," he added.