The four soldiers were convicted of murdering 12 civilians in Mariupol
Four former members of the Ukrainian armed forces have been sentenced to life in prison for killing a dozen civilians in Mariupol last year, the Supreme Court of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said on Tuesday.
Yevgeny Yakubenko, Dmitry Latyshev, Vladimir Kucherenko, and Sergey Balitsky were found guilty of murder, attempted murder, and abuse of civilians.
“The court sentenced Balitsky, Kucherenko, Latyshev, and Yakubenko to life imprisonment, with the sentence to be served in a special-regime penal colony,” the court said.
Based on the information that emerged during their trial, the four men found themselves at the Ilyich Metallurgical Plant in Mariupol in early March 2022, as Russian troops advanced on the city and surrounded the remaining Ukrainian forces. At one point, they opened fire on 14 civilians inside the plant. Two of the intended victims survived and managed to escape.
Earlier this month, a Donetsk court handed a life sentence to a Ukrainian soldier who opened fire on two cars with refugees, also in Mariupol. He too was found guilty of murder and abuse of civilians, as well as membership in a group motivated by political or ideological hatred.
Read more