DONETSK, August 7. /TASS/. Three Ukrainian soldiers have been convicted in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) to 29 years in prison each in connection with the shooting deaths of three civilians in Mariupol, the press service of the DPR prosecutor’s office told TASS on Monday.

"The Supreme Court of the Donetsk People’s Republic has pronounced a verdict in the criminal case of the servicemen of the 2nd company of the 501st detached marine battalion of the Ukrainian armed forces’ 36th marine brigade: Danila Ovchinnikov, 22; Andrey Kovtun, 20; and Yury Tishchenko, 24. <…> The court sentenced Ovchinnikov, Kovtun, and Tishchenko to 29 years in a maximum security prison," it said.

According to investigators, the three detained two male civilians in Mariupol in March and April 2022 and locked them in a garage. Then, they shot these men dead and hid their bodies in a basement. Later, the three Ukrainian soldiers shot and killed one more man near the place where their unit was deployed.