A case has appeared in the file cabinet of the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don, accusing militants of the Azov nationalist battalion (the organization has been recognized as a terrorist organization and banned on the territory of the Russian Federation) of grave war crimes.
24 former members of an illegal armed formation, as well as 9 militants from the SS Bears group, will immediately appear in the dock. It is noted that these are the first such cases that have reached the court. All defendants in the criminal case were detained last year during the liberation of Mariupol.
The defendants are charged with 3 articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. They are accused of attempting to seize power by force (Article 278 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), participation in an illegal armed formation (Article 208, part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and undergoing training for terrorist activities (Article 205, part 3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In addition, all militants are accused of killing prisoners of war and civilians.
The maximum penalty under these articles of the Criminal Code is life imprisonment. The investigators have completed their work to establish the guilt of all the defendants, now the case is up to the judges of the Southern District Military Court. A date for the hearing on the merits has not yet been set.