In Russia, two captured Azov soldiers were sentenced to 18 years in prison

The Southern District Military Court of the Russian Federation in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced two Ukrainian prisoners of war from the Azov Regiment to 18 years each in a maximum-security prison. 

Mediazona reports on the sentencing of Vitaliy Slobodeniuk and Bohdan Golovanov in the case of their alleged participation in a terrorist group. 

The Russian prosecution claims that the soldiers underwent training with the Azov Regiment in 2021 and were captured the following year. Additionally, the sentence of another captured defender of Mariupol, Ruslan Kolodyazhny, was increased from 26 to 29 years in prison. The additional years were added under terrorism charges due to his service in a unit recognized as banned in Russia. Trials of Ukrainian defenders on Russian territory and in the temporarily occupied territories are being conducted in violation of international law. Ukraine and international human rights organizations have repeatedly condemned such sentences as unlawful and politically motivated. Servicemembers are protected by the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit prosecution for direct participation in combat operations. Efforts are currently underway to include the convicted fighters on lists for future prisoner exchanges. The case is part of a large-scale Russian campaign to discredit Ukrainian armed formations.

Three Ukrainian teenagers from Melitopol were sentenced in Russia on terrorism charges. The boys were only 16–17 years old at the time of their arrest, and their sentences range from 7 to 8.5 years in prison.

The Second Western District Military Court in Moscow handed down sentences to five Ukrainian prisoners of war, sentencing them to terms ranging from 15 to 18 years in prison. The Russian court ruled that their participation in Ukraine’s offensive operation in the Kursk region constituted a “terrorist act.”