A Russian court has convicted 23 Ukrainians who were captured in the siege of the city of Mariupol on terrorism charges and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from 13 to 23 years after a trial that Kyiv has described as a violation of international law and a "war crime."
The verdict and long prison terms came nearly two years after most of the defendants went on trial in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, near Ukraine's border, in June 2023. Eleven of the initial 24 defendants were convicted in absentia after returning to Ukraine in prisoner exchanges, and one died in custody last year.
The Last Days Of Azovstal And The Fate Of Ukraine's Mariupol Defenders
According to Russian media reports and rights activists, the defendants included 14 current or former members of Ukraine's elite Azov Brigade, formerly known as a battalion and a regiment, which Russia has labelled a terrorist group, and nine women and one man who worked as cooks or support personnel.
SEE ALSO: The Week In Russia: 'Charred Buildings And Shallow Graves'The defendants were captured during Russia's bloody siege of the Azov Sea city of Mariupol months into the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Azov fighters battled Russian troops for months before around 2,500 surrendered in May 2022.
Many of them had held out at the Azovstal steel plant, whose capture cemented the Russian takeover of the ruined city.
The defendants were charged with staging a violent coup and organizing activities of a terrorist organization. Some were also charged with training to carry out terrorist activities.
In 2023, Mykhaylo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wrote on Twitter that the trial amounted to "an official war crime."
A lawyer for one of the defendants said the 12 defendants who were in Russian custody would all appeal the verdicts. Acquittals and successful appeals are extremely rare in Russia.