What's new

Welcome

If you already have an account, please login, but if you don't have one yet, you are more than welcome to freely join the community of lawyers around the world..

Register Log in
  • We don't have any responsibilities about the news being sent in this site. Legal News are automatically being collected from sources and submitted in this forum by feed readers. Source of each news is set in the news and a link to its source is always added.
    (Any News older than 21 days from its post time will be deleted automatically!)

Jurist Russia court begins criminal trial against Ukraine’s Azov battalion

Status
Not open for further replies.
  • Thread starter
  • Staff
  • #1

Dadparvar

Staff member
Nov 11, 2016
10,598
0
6
A Russian court began hearing the case against more than 20 Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov battalion, seized in May 2022 from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. The members of the Azov battalion—including eight women—face charges of involvement with a terrorist organization and participating in action to overthrow Russian authorities.

Photographs captured by the Associated Press show men from the Azov battalion in a Russian military court at Rostov-on-Don, Russia. In the photographs, the men sit with shaved heads behind a glass panel, separating the Azov members from others present in court.

Russian prosecutors first filed the charges against 24 members of the Azov battalion in May, according to Russian state news agency TASS. Under the Russian Criminal Code, Azov members face charges of forcible seizure of power, participation in an illegal armed formation and training for the purpose of terrorist activities. Each of the charges are enhanced by a terrorist designation, since the Russian Supreme Court designated Azov as a terrorist organization in August 2022.

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s Parliament, commented on the beginning of the trial Thursday. They claimed the trial has no legal basis, citing international law and military immunity. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), “Combatant immunity bars the prosecution of combatants for mere participation in hostilities.” The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) echoed a similar sentiment in August 2022, citing concerns that Russia may begin trials of Ukrainian prisoners of war—like the members of the Azov battalion.

The Azov battalion is a unit of the National Guard of Ukraine. The unit hails from the city of Mariupol, which is located along the Sea of Azov—from which the unit derives its name. A JURIST dispatch from Ukraine described the group’s long history in fighting separatists and Russian armed forces in the eastern region of Ukraine, beginning as early as 2014. Most notably, the Azov battalion was responsible for defending Mariupol against a Russian siege which drew international condemnation for its severity. From February 24, 2022 through May 20, 2022, the Azov battalion held. It was only once the battalion surrendered that the city fell to Russian control.

If convicted, the 20-plus members of the Azov battalion on trial in Rostov-on-Don face sentences ranging from 15 years to life in prison.

The post Russia court begins criminal trial against Ukraine’s Azov battalion appeared first on JURIST - News.

Continue reading...

Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top