A group of captured Ukrainian defenders at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol are facing the death penalty in a court in the Russian-controlled separatist region of Donetsk. In the criminal trial, the public prosecutor’s office demanded the maximum sentence on Monday, as reported by the official news agency of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic. A verdict is due on Wednesday.- The accusedwhose exact number was not given, charged with killing more than 100 people. The Ukrainians belonged to a group of neo-Nazis who would have served as a separate unit for raids and sabotage in the nationalist Azov regiment. In the Ukrainian public the group is called “Bears”, in the Russian press there is talk of “Bears SS”.- Soldiers from the Azov regiment were entrenched in the steel works until the end of May, when the rest of the port city of Mariupol had already been taken by Russian troops. Then the last defenders went into captivity. Since then, Ukraine has been trying to secure their release. According to Ukrainian reports, many prisoners were mistreated in Russian hands. About 50 of them were killed in an attack in Olenivka prison near Donetsk at the end of July under still unclear circumstances.- Russia demoted the Azov regiment early August as terrorist organization a. This would allow Azov members in Russian captivity to be sentenced under Russian law. The separatist republic of Donetsk says it wants to put even more defense lawyers from Mariupol before its own Supreme Court.-
The regiment has repeatedly served as justification for Moscow’s more than five-month-long war of aggression and for claims of allegedly “ridding” Ukraine of “fascists.” In fact, international experts largely agree that Nationalists and right-wing extremists make up only a fraction of Ukrainian fighters.
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