11 Feb, 10:44

Russian court sentences 5 Ukrainian militants to 6 years in prison

The prisoners of war are accused of participating in hostilities against civilians and soldiers

ROSTOV-ON-DON, February 11. /TASS/. The Southern Military District Court in Russia’s Rostov-on-Don has sentenced five Ukrainian prisoners of war accused of terrorist activities to terms ranging from 5 years and 8 months to 6 years in prison, a TASS correspondent reported.

Ukrainian citizens Ivan Bezlepkin, Yury Makarenko, Dmitry Reivakh, Gleb Petruk, and Vladimir Puzanov are accused of participating in a militant group in Donbass. Prosecutors had called for a term from 5 years and 10 months to 6 years in prison.

"[The court decided] to find the defendants guilty and sentence them to imprisonment for the following terms: Bezlepkin - 5 years and 10 months; Makarenko - 5 years and 8 months; Reyvakh - 6 years; Petruk - 6 years; Puzanov - 5 years and 8 months," the court announced.

Makarenko, Petruk, and Reyvakh served in the Ukrainian army’s 46th separate assault battalion Donbass-Ukraine (recognized as a terrorist organization by the Donetsk People’s Republic’s Supreme Court) from February to March 2022. They are accused of participating in hostilities against civilians and soldiers of the People's Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). When the DPR territory was occupied, the defendants would target positions of the DPR People's Militia officers in the settlement of Stepnoye, Volnovakha district, and Volnovakha, where they were detained in March 2022, prosecutors specified.

Puzanov and Bezlepkin also participated in combat operations of Ukraine's Donbass battalion and the 46th separate assault battalion Donbass-Ukraine on the territories of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People’s Republic. In April 2016, they left the units of their own volition without reporting the existence and activities of the units. Puzanov was detained in March 2022 at his home; Bezlepkin was arrested a month later while undergoing filtration measures.

The case in the Southern Military District Court has been heard since 2023.

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