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| Azov militant sentenced to 28 years in absentia for shelling civilian infrastructure |
| 2024-02-22 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [Regnum] The Supreme Court of the DPR convicted in absentia a soldier of the Ukrainian nationalist Azov battalion (a terrorist organization whose activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation), who gave the order to shell civilian infrastructure, the Investigative Committee reported on February 21. The court found senior sergeant Roman Shebanov guilty of committing crimes under Part 1 of Art. 356 (cruel treatment of civilians), part 3 of Art. 30, pp. “a”, “e”, “g” and “l” part 2 of Art. 105 (attempted murder of two or more persons) and Part 2 of Art. 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (intentional damage to someone else’s property in a generally dangerous way). “Shebanov was sentenced to 28 years in prison to be served in a maximum security colony (in absentia). Put on the international wanted list,” the message says. The investigation established that Shebanov, during the period from February 25 to March 19, 2022, acting as commander of a howitzer-artillery platoon, duplicated command orders to the Ukrainian military to conduct indiscriminate “fan” artillery shelling of residential buildings and socially significant civilian infrastructure facilities in populated areas of Old Crimea and Lebedinskoye in the DPR. In total, the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired about 500 shots. Civilians who were in shelters at the time of the shelling were not injured. The court in the DPR also sentenced Azov shooter Artyom Stupnitsky to 25 years in prison to serve in a maximum security colony for the murder of a civilian. He was found guilty of cruelty to civilians, murder committed by an organized group, motivated by political and ideological hatred. According to investigators, from February to May 2022, Stupnitsky and his colleagues were stationed in buildings and structures of Mariupol in the DPR. They had to forcibly retain power in the territory of the city controlled by the Kyiv regime, while killing civilians, as well as persons supporting the special operation. As Regnum reported, on February 20, the Supreme Court of the DPR sentenced a 22-year-old mercenary from Georgia to life imprisonment for the murder of three Russian servicemen in Mariupol. The court found Mamuka Gatsarelia guilty under Art. 317 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (attack on the life of a serviceman) and Part 3 of Art. 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation of a mercenary in an armed conflict). According to the court decision, the mercenary will serve his sentence in a special regime correctional colony. According to investigators, in 2022 the man came to Ukraine, where he entered into a contract with the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In Mariupol, he opened fire on four Russian soldiers, killing three of them. In January, the Supreme Court of the DPR issued a verdict in a criminal case against the 25-year-old senior machine gunner of the separate Azov detachment, Sergei Mikhailenko. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment to be served in a special regime correctional colony. |
| Posted by:badanov |