Russia’s Sham Trials Send Ukrainian Prisoners of War to Brutal Penal Colonies

Russia sentenced Oleksandr Maksymchuk, a Ukrainian prisoner of war (POW), to 20 years in a maximum-security penal colony. His wife and his son, born in 2019, are waiting for him in Ukraine. 

Maksymchuk was taken prisoner in May 2022, after surrendering from the Azovstal steel plant. Initially, he was held in Olenivka penal colony, before being transferred to pre-trial detention center No. 2 in Taganrog then ultimately sentenced in Rostov-On-Don. 

Maksymchuk served in the Azov Brigade which is recognized as a “terrorist organization” in Russia. He was tried on charges often given to Azov fighters, for “participating in a terrorist community and undergoing training for terrorist activities,” Russian media outlet Mediazona reported, who was present for the sentencing.  

Russia’s supreme court issued a ruling on 2 August 2022, declaring the Azov Regiment (which later expanded into the Azov Brigade) “terrorists.” The ruling was widely seen as a pretext for persecuting Ukrainian POWs, according to the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG).

In court, Maksymchuk recalled his time in Russian city Taganrog to Mediazona reporters. During his time he was tortured to “recognize Azov as a terrorist organization, which it is not” he said. “To put it mildly, there are no grounds for this” he followed. “I was tortured, beaten, I starved over and over again. All conceivable and inconceivable methods of pressure were applied to me.” 

“Long live the court—the most humane court in the world, eh?” Russia’s State Prosecutor joked citing a Soviet-era comedy, Mediazona reported. 

I’ve been in detention for more than two and a half years; I’m so used to it that I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be a free man

Oleksandr Maksymchuk

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Russia’s illegal court rulings and sentences of terrorism

Ukrainian POWs captured by Russia have protected status under the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of POWs to which Russia is a party. Therefore they should not be charged and sentenced just for being part of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. 

However, Russia continues to illegally sentence Ukrainian POWs to lengthy sentences and sometimes life imprisonment, to some of the most notorious penal colonies in the world where torture is systematic. Several battalions and brigades of Ukraine’s Armed Forces have been added to Russia’s register of “terrorist organizations” which it uses as grounds and their go-to charge for Ukrainian POWs.

POWs cannot be prosecuted for taking direct part in hostilities. Their detention is not a form of punishment; rather its purpose is to prevent further participation in the conflict. They must be released and repatriated without delay after the end of hostilities.

Third Geneva Convention

Memorial, an independent human rights project has compiled a list of Ukrainian citizens who were captured and placed on illegal trial. The list consists only of trials that Memorial is able to cover, many more cases not listed here, exist.

All cases of terrorism are tried in military courts, often closed to the public, and lawyers are often prohibited from disclosing any details or accusations of evidence, which Amnesty International says “increases the scope for procedural and other abuses in the courtroom.”

No one accused of terrorism or related crimes has been acquitted in Russia since statistics became available in 2015, according to Amnesty International. 

Russia must respect the rights of captured Ukrainian soldiers and end such sham trials.

Amnesty International

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, 46 repressive laws have been introduced by Russia’s State Duma  , aimed at “fighting against opponents: individuals, groups, and organizations that, from the government officials’ standpoint, interfere with their political interests,” according to OVD info, a Russian human rights and advocacy research group.

Yurii Bondarenko

On 29 October 2024, Yurii Bondarenko from the Kyiv region was sentenced to 20 years for serving in Ukraine’s Aidar Battalion, with the first 3 years to be served in prison, and the remainder of the sentence to be served in a maximum-security penal colony. 

The Aidar Battalion is listed as a “terrorist organization” by Russia. The court that made the ruling adding Aidar to the list was the same Southern District Military Court involved in Bondarenko’s “trial” and countless other trials of Ukrainian political prisoners, according to the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group.

The Russian Courts argued that information regarding Aidar being registered as a “terrorist organization” was published on “various Russian internet resources and on the FSB (Russian security services) website”, therefore Bondarenko “could not have failed to have this information.” Claiming he knowingly joined a “terrorist organization” voluntarily, the courts set their grounds for sentencing. 

Roman Ponomarenko

On October 22, 2024, Roman Ponomarenko was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment in a maximum security penal colony for serving as a medic in the Ukrainian National Guard’s Donbas Battalion. Russian courts charged him with “involvement in the activities of a terrorist organization”, and with “undergoing training in order to carry out terrorist activities.”

The ruling, declaring the Donbas 46th Assault Battalion of Ukraine’s Armed Forces “terrorists” was passed on the same day that Ponomarenko’s sentence was passed, October 22, 2024. 

The manipulative methods used to try to prove that men defending their country were ‘taking part in a terrorist organization’ are pitiful, and terrifyingly lawless.

Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group

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What are penal colonies?

Penal colonies are often referred to as the “descendants of gulags”. The “gulag” was a system of concentration and correctional labor camps that began in 1919 during the Soviet Union but grew during Stalin's reign. Gulags often treated prisoners poorly, and this has been extended to the modern Russian penal colony prison system, where systematic abuse, torture, as well as physical and sexual violence have become commonplace. 

As of 2019, there are 869 penal colonies across Russia. In some penal colonies, inmates are housed in barracks instead of cells. There are several variants, corrective colonies, colony settlements, educational colonies, or prisons. Within the corrective colonies

there are various regimes—general regime, strict regime, special regime, and special regime for those serving life sentences.

In strict regimes and maximum security penal colonies, prisoners are usually subjected to forced labor, according to a report by Poland-based think tank the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW). 

They’re often located in remote areas where they are less frequently if at all, inspected by external bodies. Their locations are linked to the concept of economic development adopted during the Soviet era where prisoners were used as forced labor to construct large-scale investments. Due to being in remote locations, running water and heating are a common problem. Overcrowding and poor conditions mean maintaining basic hygiene is difficult and according to data, prisoners developing AIDS and tuberculosis is a major problem, causing up to a third of deaths. 

Poor health conditions

Serhii Tarasiuk, an Azov Brigade soldier, was held in the Olenivka penal colony. His last known location is in pre-trial detention center No. 2 in Taganrog, the Rostov region. A released POW, who had been together with Serhii in prison told his wife that he “appeared to have contracted tuberculosis in captivity. In addition, he has rapidly progressing psoriasis and suffers from tooth problems. 

“He had difficulty eating, he was all skin and bone,” Media Initiative of Human Rights (MIPL) reported.

In penal colonies human rights violations and torture are common, the prison service is a machine that knows well how to hide pathologies used for exerting control over society and ensuring the stability of the system of power.

Centre for Eastern Studies

Captured, tortured and killed

Between February 24, 2022, to the end of October 2024, 169 military personnel were killed in Russian captivity. MIPL collected testimonies from 122 Ukrainian defenders held in Russian captivity who “describe systematic torture, isolation from the outside world, and denial of proper medical care.” MIPL also collected evidence of the deaths of POWs in detention, most of them were caused by torture. 

These were returned to Ukraine and according to Russian authorities, died of chronic diseases or exhaustion. However, testimonies from other released prisoners said that those deaths were caused by torture, beatings, electric shocks, limited diet and more. The numbers of deaths are expected to be much higher MIPL reported, as Russia does not usually inform Ukraine about the deterioration of their death, nor allow monitoring mission representatives to visit them when health deteriorates. 

“There were not enough human rights defenders to go around before already,”  Russian prison sociologist Olga Zeveleva told VICE News. “But if we look at the situation today, with a destroyed civil society and activist space in Russia against the backdrop of Putin’s repression, there’s not a lot of hope that human rights activists will come and help someone.”

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Russia’s most notorious penal colonies holding Ukrainians

A map of Ukrainians being held in prisons and penal colonies across Russia was created by MIPL, and some Ukrainians, are being held in the harshest, most extreme prisons in the world. 

Black Dolphin

Penal colony No. 6, commonly known as Black Dolphin, is one of the most feared prisons in the world, known for its harsh conditions and extremely strict regime. Prisoners are subjected to severe isolation and physical abuse and psychological torture by guards are common. Prisoners are forced to stand all day in their 50ft square cells and not allowed to sit or rest on their bunks, while being under constant surveillance according to reports. 

Artur Niverchuk was taken prisoner by Russian forces during the siege of Azovstal and held in Black Dolphin for a year before being exchanged in December 2024. 

Polar Owl

Penal colony No. 18, commonly known as Polar Owl is one of the harshest prisons of Russia’s penal colonies and Ukrainian POWs are being sent there as a result of baseless trials. The town Kharp of the Yamal-Nenets region in which Polar Owl is situated is 60km north of the Arctic Circle and was built by Gulag prisoners. Temperatures reach -30 degrees Celsius and prisoners are often forced to stay outside without warm clothing, enduring endless torture and forced labor. 

Serhii Mykhailenko, a 26-year-old Azov Brigade fighter who took part in the defence of the Azovstal in Mariupol, is being held in Polar Owl according to MIPL - serving life imprisonment. Tamara, his wife, found out Serhii was being imprisoned via Russian Telegram channels after his “trial” in Russian-occupied Donetsk region, according to reports. 

Tamara says that Serhii was forced to confess crimes he never committed. She hasn’t received any letters or phone calls from him, she only knows whether he’s alive through Russian media and social media channels. Tamara said that through Telegram, she found out that he had suffered a concussion due to being beaten by a group of Russian prison staff, suffering from panic attacks as a result of the contusions and torture he had endured. 

She believes he’s been tortured, potentially being kept in solitary confinement and forced to do hard labor. 

I couldn’t believe it was my Serhii. He didn’t look like himself. He stuttered – I suspect that was the effect of torture. I cried all day long, I felt as though part of my soul had died

Tamara Mykhailenko

Polar Wolf

Penal colony 3 (IK-3), commonly known as "Polar Wolf", was founded in the 1960s and was once part of the Gulag system of forced labor camps. It’s also situated in Kharp, with Polar Owl. Polar Wolf is known to be one of Russian’s harshest penal colonies where many are sent for the gravest crimes.

Alexei Navalny was held and killed in Polar Wolf. The UK Government sanctioned the heads of Polar Wolf colony on under the “UK’s Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations” for “their responsibility for activity that violates the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the right to life.”

Penal Colony No. 1 Tula Region

Penal colony no.1 is located in the town of Donskoy, less than 600 kilometers from Ukraine’s border. It’s on the premises of an old coal mine and has been operating since the mid-1950s. MIPL reported that several Ukrainian POWs and civilians are being held here, subjected to severe torture, starved to death, and having the Russian “Z” carved on their cheeks with a rusty nail. 

Prisoners released from penal colony no.1 told MIPL that they were confined to cramped conditions, held in a cell with 23 people that was designed for six. Prisoners were made to stand all day with no real drinking water, only rusty water from a tap which they collected and let the rust settle before drinking it. 

They would kill and beat us with sticks, batons, electric shockers. They would line everyone up into a file and beat them, without skipping anyone.

Vasyl

Mordovia

Mordovia is an area associated with the Gulag prison system where a collection of penal colonies are based, formed in the 1930s. There are 14 penal colonies in Mordovia according to reports. One of the most infamous penal colonies here is IK-2, where US basketball All-Star and Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner was held. Penal colony no.18 is called Potma, translated to “neglected corner”. 

Gelena Alekseyeva a Russian former deputy minister for investment who was sent to IK-14 in Mordovia told reporters, that when girls find out that they’re going to Mordovia, they do everything possible to avoid it. “They cut their wrists, get sick, swallow nails, just so they don’t have to go there.” 

Ukrainian POWs, many captured during the siege of Azovstal, were sent to a Mordovia penal colony, though which specific colony is unclear. 

Andriy Kulko, a former PE teacher who served in Ukraine’s National Guard recalls his time in Mordovia, under constant surveillance, forced to stand morning until night with his head down and hands behind his back. “If someone talked or moved without a command, or turned their head… The door would open and they would be taken away for a beating,” Kulko told reporters. Due to the constant standing and lack of movement, prisoners would develop ulcers and holes in their legs and they were only allowed to use the toilet on command.  

Kulko told reporters that one guard confirmed there to be a document approved by the Russian Defence Ministry that detailed how to treat POWs and “destroy them physically and psychologically”.

Penal colonies in the Kursk region

MIPL investigated and found that Ukrainian POWs and civilians have been taken to correctional colonies in Kursk since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Correctional Colony No. 11 Malaya Lokna in Kursk was previously a children’s colony until 2011 when it was changed to a women’s colony. 

Ukrainians Natalya and Kateryna were captured in Mariupol in 2022 and told MIPL about what life was like in No.11, here, just like other colonies across Russia, Ukrainians faced systematic torture. Women POWs were forced to undress and sing the Russian anthem, reciting poems about the USSR. The guards used stun guns and sometimes set dogs on them. 

Volodymyr, a civilian and former prisoner said that while guards were beating him, they shouted, “This is for your friend, this is for the riot police, this is for the Maidan, this is for our brothers,” Volodymyr told MIPL.

Many Ukrainians, POWs, and civilians alike, have been brought to the pretrial Detention Center No. 1 in Kursk, different from a penal colony, yet torture methods remain the same. According to official details, the cells are designed for four people, yet according to reports, former prisoners state to have been held with anywhere from 12 to 22 people. They were made to stand on their toes, beaten, subject to electric shocks, and forced to sing the Russian national anthem. 

While there must be accountability for all human rights violations and war crimes committed by either side during the entirety of this conflict, prisoners of war cannot be prosecuted for merely taking part in hostilities. The war crime in this instance is by Russian authorities, who have not given prisoners of war fair and regular trials.

Amnesty International