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Russia Hands Prison Terms to Three Ukrainian Youths From Melitopol in Occupied Zaporizhzhia Region
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A military court in Rostov-on-Don has issued sentences to three young Ukrainians who were taken from occupied Melitopol.
Lawyer Kateryna Bobrovska reported on March 19 that Viktor Azarovskyi, Oleh Shokol, and Denys Vasylyk received prison terms.
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Bobrovska has worked on this case for nearly three years. She stated that this situation is a "clear example of a gross violation of international humanitarian and criminal law."
The court sentenced Viktor Azarovskyi to 8 years and 6 months in prison. Oleh Shokol received 7 years and 6 months, while Denys Vasylyk was sentenced to 7 years. Bobrovska noted several issues during the legal process.
"During the consideration of the case, gross violations were committed: the trial took place in a closed session, without access for the media and international observers, minors were effectively deprived of the right to a fair and public trial, there are reasonable grounds to believe that pressure and coercion were applied to the children to provide testimony, the prolonged detention of minors in a pre-trial detention center contradicts the principle of the exceptionality of such a measure, effective and independent defense was significantly limited," the lawyer wrote.
The three individuals were detained in Melitopol in October 2023. They were accused of forming a group to plan a terrorist act and sabotage, as well as manufacturing and storing explosives.
At the time of their arrest, they were 16 and 17 years old. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, they were deported to Russia and held in a detention center in Taganrog for nearly three years.
Previously, the case of Oleksandr Maksymchuk, a Ukrainian prisoner of war whom a Russian court sentenced to 20 years in a maximum-security penal colony, was also detailed.
He was taken captive in May 2022 after leaving the Azovstal steel plant and was subsequently held in Olenivka and Taganrog before facing trial in Rostov-on-Don. Because Russia had designated the Azov Brigade as a "terrorist organization,"
Maksymchuk was charged with participating in a terrorist community. During the proceedings, he recounted being subjected to persistent torture, beatings, and starvation intended to force a confession, while the Russian state prosecutor mocked the situation by quoting Soviet-era comedies.
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