The court found three militants of the terrorist organization DNR guilty of treason and denying russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine and sentenced them to 15 years in prison.

They were taken prisoner by Ukrainian defenders in late March during the liberation of Vilkhivka village, Kharkiv region. All of them were members of an illegal armed formation of russian occupation forces.

The SSU established that in early March the ‘recruits’ underwent military training in a ‘camp’ set up by the occupation authorities at a boarding school in Donetsk. There they were assigned to the 3rd battalion of the 115th regiment as machine gunners.

After that, the militants were sent to russian Belgorod for intensive training at a military base. Later, they were returned to Ukraine and transferred to Kharkiv direction, where they were soon captured by Ukrainian defenders.

The SSU investigators collected a substantial evidence base regarding these militants, which made it possible to sentence them to real terms of imprisonment. The proceedings were conducted under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

• 111.2 (treason);
• 436-2.1 (justification, recognition as legitimate, denying russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, glorification of its participants).

The pre-trial investigation was conducted by SSU investigators in Ivano-Frankivsk region with the operational support of the National Police under the procedural supervision of Prosecutor General’s Office.