Kiyv district court rejects to recognize captured Russian soldiers as POWs
Kiyv district court rejects to recognize
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Spetsnaz officers may face life imprisonement – lawyer
On November 10 Kyiv’s district court began hearing the case of captured Russian officers Aleksandr Aleksandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev .
During the hearing, Oksana Sokolovska, lawyer of Yerofeyev, petitioned the district court to recognize her defendant as a prisoner of war.
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Sokolovska noted that further consideration of criminal proceedings would depend on the status of her defendant. Prosecutors opposed the request.
Ukrainian Aidar battalion soldier Bohdan Garkusha, who was wounded in combat against Yerofeyev and Aleksandrov, also objected to recognition of Yerofeyev as a prisoner of war. Garkusha said ‘it is an anti-terrorist operation under way in Ukraine, not a declared war’, thus he considered both Russian soldiers as terrorists.
The court rejected Sokolovska’s petition. On November 3, lawyers submitted their petition to Ukraine’s High Administrative Court.
Aleksandrov’s lawyer Yuri Hrabovsky predicts that the state prosecution will ask the court to sentence the Russian soldiers to life imprisonment.
“I think the prosecution will ask the court to the sentence them to the maximum possible term – life imprisonment”, the lawyer told journalists during a break in the court hearing, on Tuesday, November 10, according to Interfax-Ukraine.
Aleksandrov and Yerofeyev were captured by soldiers of the Ukrainian Aidar volunteer battalion near the village of Schastya in the Luhansk region in May 2015. Their capture is widely regarded as proof that regular Russian forces are fighting in east Ukraine.
Russia says they were not on active service when they were detained. But the two had already confessed to being part to the 3rd Spetsnaz (Russian Special Forces) unit near the Russian city of Tolyatti.
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Aleksandrov and Yerofeyev are charged with acts of terrorism, including killing Ukrainians in combat.
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