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Russia’s ‘Azov trial’ – one Ukrainian POW tortured to death, 23 given monstrous sentences

27.03.2025 source: Azov+trial, Timonin, Smykov, Zharkov, Tyshkul, Hretsky, Zhdamarov

One of Russia’s most cynical ‘trials’ has ended with 23 men and women sentenced to huge terms of imprisonment on insane ‘terrorism’ charges for serving, some way back, in the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Azov Regiment

Court hearing Photo Aleksandra Astakhova, Mediazona

Russia’s Southern District Military Court has passed sentences of up to 23 years against 23 Ukrainian prisoners of war on insane charges linked solely with involvement, in some cases, historical, in the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Azov Regiment. The sentences included eleven passed in absentia against nine women and two men who were released earlier in exchanges of prisoners. The only ‘sentence’ missing from this grotesque show trial was that against Oleksandr Ishchenko, who was 55 when he died in Russian prison, probably from the torture to which he had been subjected.

Oleksandr Ishchenko Photo Aleksancra Astakhova, MediaZona

Everything about the ‘trial’ and these sentences was illegal. Russia is bound by international law to respect the protected status of prisoners of war. Instead, it not only tortures and ill-treats Ukrainian POWs, but also brings charges that are, at every level, lawless. The prisoners of war were charged with extraordinary ‘terrorism’ charges because of a politically motivated ruling, passed by Russia’s Supreme court on 2 August 2022, long after all had been taken prisoner. The ruling ignored the fact that the Azov Regiment is a part of Ukraine’s Armed Forces and declared it a ‘terrorist organization’. The move was internationally condemned and understood to be aimed at persecuting Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol, many of whom were serving in the Azov Regiment. This soon proved to be the case, with analogous rulings now also used for illegal sentences against defenders from two other regiments or battalions.

Yaroslav Zhdamarov Photo Mediazona

Such ‘trials’ also violate the fundamental principle that the law is not retroactive, since all the 24 defendants first announced in June 2023 had been taken prisoner in the Spring of 2022, long before the supreme court ruling. As well as the fact that the women were all employed solely as cooks, several men were civilians, whom the Russian invaders had seized because they had served in Azov years before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the supreme court ruling.

Anatoliy Hrytsyk Photo Mediazona

Despite the above, literally all 24 Ukrainians were charged with some or all of the following: ‘actions aimed at the violent seizure of power or violent change in the constitutional order of the Russian Federation’ (Articles 278 and 35 § 4 of Russia’s criminal code); ‘organizing the activities of a terrorist organization or participation in it (Article 205.5 § 1 or 2) and (against 11 men) ‘undertaking training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities’ (Article 205.3). All of the sentences passed against the men are for harsh-regime (maximum-security) prison colonies.

12 men received real sentences, which all intend to appeal against.

Oleksiy Smykov (28) - 23 years;

22-year sentences: Artur Hretsky (22); Oleksandr Merochenets (26); Oleksandr Mukhin (32); Mykyta Tymonin (29); Oleh Tyshkul (55) and Yaroslav Zhdamarov (32);

20-year sentences Artem Hrebeshkov (32) and Oleksandr Irkha (46);

Anatoliy Hrytsyk (48) - 19 years;

Oleh Mizhhorodsky (45) – 17 years;

Oleh Zharkov (53) – 13 years;

The two men released in an exchange before the ‘trial’ began in June 2023, David Kasatkin and Dmytro Labinsky were both ‘sentenced’ in absentia to 23 years.

Although the nine women were all cooks, they too were convicted of the surreal ‘terrorism’ charges. Olena Avramova; Nina Bondarenko; Alyona Bondarchuk; Natalia Goldfiner; Lilia Lavrianidis; Vladyslava Maiboroda; Iryna Mohytych; Lilia Rudenko; and Maryna Tekin all received sentences, in absentia, of 13 or 14 years (in medium-security prison colonies). They had spent over two years in Russian captivity before their release in September 2024.

Of the men who remain imprisoned, and who received huge sentences, by no means all were serving members of the Armed Forces (within Azov) when taken prisoner.

Oleksandr Mukhin served in Azov from September 2017 through November 2018 and was a civilian when abducted by the Russians. Anatoliy Hrytsyk was a military man, who had earlier served in several peacekeeping missions abroad. He had retired from service in 2008 but later served in Azov from 2015 to 2019. Artem Hrebeshkov had served as a contract soldier from 2017 to May 2021, and from then on was a civilian. Oleh Zharkov was working as a handyman. He was taken ill during the reading of the sentences, and an ambulance needed to be called.

Political prisoners

All of the Ukrainians have been recognized by the authoritative Memorial Support for Political Prisoners Project as political prisoners.

During the ‘trial’ and in their final addresses, many of the defendants described the horrific torture that they themselves endured and witnessed.

In his final address, Mykyta Timonin stated: “With respect to Russian claims about supposed ‘terrorism’ and ‘atrocities’ from the Ukrainian Armed Forces >I saw bags over people’s heads; electric wires attached to different parts of the body; broken ribs; kidneys beaten out; people beaten to death; hunger for more than a year; no medical care; people, their arms and legs rotting; fleas; bedbugs; a shower twice a year, and we left, not only dirtier than when we arrived, but also beaten. We’re not able to speak with our families and friends. Even now we send letters, and they don’t reach them and get lost somewhere.”

Mykyta Timonin Photo Aleksandra Astakhova, Mediazona

As well as citing Russian atrocities, such as the bombing on 8 July 2024 of Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital Okhmatdyt, Timonin also said: “I’d like to draw a small analogy: on 22 June 1941 at 4 a.m., Nazi German invaded the USSR. On 24 February 2022, all of Ukraine was woken by Russian missiles. It was not Ukraine who attacked Russia, it was not we who came, armed, to a foreign country.

Oleh Mizhhorodsky Photo Mediazona

We defended our land, our cities. The Russian army entered Mariupol in tanks …” They invaded our land, he continues, then claim that it was we who wanted to overthrow the regime.

The men’s accounts in court of interrogations without lawyers, of torture and of medical torture through the refusal to provide any medical care, are all corroborated by the findings both of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine and the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine. Both bodies found that Russia is guilty of systematic and widespread torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war.