Ukraine: 2,300 captured Azov fighters face death penalty – Detained in Donetsk

His Ukrainian fighters of Azov who surrendered after fighting in Mariupol will be tried and threatened with the death penalty, said today an official of the Donetsk Autonomous Region.

“All prisoners of war are in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic” said on Russian television Yuri Sirovatko, the “Minister of Justice” of this self-proclaimed “democracy”.

“More specifically, we have 2,300 prisoners of war from Azofstal”, he continued, clarifying that the battalion “Azov is considered a terrorist organization” and all its members will be investigated in view of their trial. “In our country, such criminals are punished with the last sentence, the death penalty,” he concluded.

The last defenders of Mariupol surrendered to Russian forces between 16-20 May, after fierce fighting that lasted three months. Russian authorities have branded Azov fighters, a battalion founded by Ukrainian nationalists, “neo-Nazis” and suggest they will be treated as war criminals, not prisoners of war.

On Saturday, the President of France Emanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Olaf Solz They called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release the prisoners.

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