Moscow, Mar. 26, (dpa/GNA) – A Russian court has sentenced 23 Ukrainian prisoners of war to lengthy prison terms in the largest trial of captured Ukrainian troops since the start of the war, Russian state media reported on Wednesday.

The court in Rostov-on-Don convicted the defendants of attempting to overthrow the Russian state and belonging to a terrorist organization, citing their membership in the Azov brigade, the TASS news agency said.

Azov fighters played a critical role in defending Mariupol when Russian forces seized the southern Ukrainian port city in early 2022. Russia classifies the brigade as a terrorist organization due to alleged ties to right-wing extremists.

Only 12 of the accused were present in court. They received sentences ranging from 13 to 23 years in a high-security penal colony.

The remaining 11, including nine women, were sentenced in absentia, having already been released in a prisoner exchange. One defendant died in custody before the trial concluded.

Reports of torture and coerced confessions

Some of the freed prisoners said they were tortured and forced to confess while in Russian captivity, according to independent Russian news outlet Mediazona.

Trial observers told the outlet that not all the defendants were combatants: some had been discharged from Azov, while others were drivers, cooks, warehouse workers or labourers. Several were reportedly captured while trying to flee occupied Mariupol, or were incriminated by neighbours.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seeking to secure the return of as many Azov fighters as possible through prisoner swaps with Russia.

More trials loom, with Ukrainian soldiers captured in Russia’s Kursk region also facing terrorism charges.

GNA

PDC