KIEV, September 29. /TASS/. Ukraine’s chief military prosecutor’s office demands that Russian nationals Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov detained in Donbas should be jailed for life, lawyer Oksana Sokolovskaya has said.
"The prosecutors demand life sentence," said Sokolovskaya.
The Goloseyevsky court in Kiev on Tuesday is due to decide on the jurisdiction of the case. Both defendants have been already taken to the court building in the Ukrainian capital.
The lawyer insists that the case should be considered by a court in the Luhansk region where the Russians were detained. She has repeatedly stressed that the case is politicized.
Detained Russian tells Kiev court he faced pressure, threats from prosecutors
Yevgeny Yerofeyev told the Kiev court on Tuesday he has been subjected to pressure and threats from Ukrainian prosecutors.
When asked on how he was treated, Yerofeyev said: "Threats. Pressure. They want us to give evidence."
Russians Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev were captured by Ukraine’s forces in mid-May in the Luhansk region, in eastern Ukraine. Kiev claimed the detainees allegedly were Russian servicemen.
Russia’s Defense Ministry later said the Russians "were not active servicemen of Russia’s Armed Forces at the moment when they were detained on May 17."
The court of Kiev’s Shevchenkovsky district arrested Alexandrov and Yerofeyev on May 22. The appeal court of Kiev on June 10 upheld the arrest of Russians, backing the decision of the first instance court.