MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. A member of the Ukrainian nationalist regiment Azov, banned in Russia, has been sentenced in the Donetsk People’s Republic to 20 years in prison for killing a civilian in Mariupol, the press service of Russia’s Investigative Committee has told TASS.
"The evidence collected by the Investigative Committee was recognized by the court as sufficient for sentencing a serviceman of the separate special unit Azov, Vadim Gumenyuk. He was found guilty of committing crimes under part 1 of article 356 (cruel treatment of civilians), part 3 of article 30 and part 2 of article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code (attempted murder committed by an organized group on the grounds of political and ideological hatred)," the news release says. Gumenyuk was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The investigators and the court found that Gumenyuk as a member of an organized group committed crimes while acting to enforce a criminal plan for preventing the exit of peaceful civilians from Mariupol and using them as a cover. In March 2022, soldiers of the Azov regiment were holding positions in apartment buildings and civilian infrastructure buildings in Mariupol. Gumenyuk, a driver of a motorized platoon, a combat medic and other persons were on combat duty in apartments of one of the apartment buildings. From a landing, they saw a civilian car driven by a local resident. Assuming that the driver might share pro-Russian views, they fired at least 30 shots at the vehicle.