A sham trial

Russia has put Ukrainian prisoners of war connected with the Azov Brigade on trial for terrorism

After the siege of Mariupol by Russian forces in the spring of 2022, the Russian authorities took prisoner thousands of people who had been involved in the defense of the city’s Azovstal factory or associated with the Azov Brigade, a part of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Now, 24 of those people have been transferred from the Russian-occupied Donetsk to Rostov-on-Don, in Russia proper, where they’re standing trial on charges of “forcibly seizing power” and “participating in a terrorist organization.” Photos from the court proceedings show the defendants looking emaciated and pale. The multiple Ukrainian and Western human rights organizations that have condemned the trial say Russia is violating — not for the first time — the Geneva Conventions on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

Court proceedings are underway in Rostov-on-Don against 24 Ukrainians who have or previously had connections to Ukraine’s Azov Brigade. Russia’s Southern Military District court held the first hearings on June 14 and 29. Since the trial started, two of the original 24 defendants have been returned to Ukraine as part of prisoner exchanges.

The Russian authorities have designated Azov, which was founded in 2014 to fight against Russian proxy forces in the Donbas, a “terrorist organization.” Russian state news agency TASS reports that the prisoners connected with Azov have been accused of actions aimed at “forcibly seizing power and changing the constitutional order” in the self-proclaimed Donetsk “People’s Republic” (DNR) and with “organizing activities and participating in a terrorist organization.” The charges carry penalties of 15 years to life in prison.

Ukrainian publication Focus notes that no Azov commanders are on trial during these proceedings — Russia traded captured Azov commanders for the pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk. The people now appearing before the Rostov court are ordinary and former service members in the brigade. The Ukrainian news site Babel writes that at least two of them were no longer with Azov when they were arrested.

All of the defendants were taken prisoner by Russia during the Siege of Mariupol or detained during “filtration measures” in the “DNR” between March and May of 2022, writes state-owned Russian news agency RIA Novosti. The prosecutor’s office in the self-proclaimed “republic” carried out the “investigation” into the Ukrainian citizens. The proceedings began in Donetsk, but after some time the cases were transferred to a Russian court, while the defendants were relocated to Rostov-on-Don, writes BBC News Ukraine.

Eight women and 11 men appeared before the court at the first hearing. The remaining three were “undergoing medical treatment,” according to RIA Novosti. It’s unclear what they were being treated for.

Ukraine’s reaction to the proceedings

Pictures of the defendants in court began circulating online on June 14. The prisoners appeared emaciated and pale and the men had shaved heads. Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the Zelensky administration, wrote on Twitter, “The photographs from the trial against Azovstal defenders produce nothing but disgust. Sleek prosecutors and well-dressed jurors with brilliant smiles ‘try’ our guys and girls who look like skeletons after a concentration camp and torture.” He added that “such persecution of combatants” is a war crime and should be properly assessed by the International Criminal Court.

Amnesty International also condemned the Russian authorities’ actions, calling the charges against the Azov Brigade members arbitrary. “Depriving prisoners of war of the right to a fair trial is a war crime. So is torture or inhumane treatment of prisoners of war,” the human rights group tweeted.

The Azov Brigade, sometimes also called the Azov Regiment, is officially a part of Ukraine’s National Guard, Ukrainian human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Oleksandra Matviichuk told German publication Deutsche Welle. Azov fighters are therefore combatants and, according to international law, can be tried only for war crimes. “From these proceedings, it seems that the Russian Federation considers Ukraine’s National Guard and Armed Forces terrorist organizations. And the charges that [the defendants] took actions aimed at seizing power from the authorities means that the Russian Federation considers currently occupied Ukrainian territories to be part of Russia.”

Petro Yatsenko, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war, called the trial in Rostov “a sham and a fake.” Yatsenko considers the whole process part of the propaganda the Russian state aims at its own citizens, since the verdict would not prevent the defendants from being returned to Ukraine in an exchange.

“Of course, these people will be in the exchange pool. We’ll try to exchange them in the same way as other prisoners of war,” TASS quotes Podolyak as saying.

Yevheniia Synelnyk, a spokesperson for the Association of Families of Azovstal Defenders, told Radio Liberty that this is not the first time the Russian authorities have staged a “show trial.” She recalled that in late summer of 2022, they installed metal cages at the Mariupol philharmonic for a trial of Ukrainian prisoners.

“All of these processes, these so-called trials, have been going on forever. It’s just that now there’s more information. But the fact that our service members are on trial goes against everything in the Geneva Conventions, and we recognize that it’s not the first time that Russia has violated absolutely all possible conventions on the rights of prisoners of war, so in this case, it’s not worth it to react seriously and take it to heart,” Sinelnik said.

The human rights activist added that she believes there are just under 2,000 Azovstal defenders in Russian captivity, including 700 fighters from the Azov Brigade.

The court in Rostov-on-Don plans to hold its next hearing for the case on July 19.