Russia imprisons several Ukrainians abducted from occupied Melitopol

The convicted include a Ukrainian solider, a veteran, and three territorial defense reservists. Ihor Horlov received 14 years in prison, Andriy Holubyev 12 years, Volodymyr Zuiev 11 years, Oleksandr Zhukov 12 years, and Yuriy Petrov 14 years. Each man is required to serve the first five and a half years in prison, with the remainder in a high-security penal colony.

In court, the defendants said they were kidnapped by Russian security forces in April 2022, held in secret prisons in Melitopol and tortured before being transported to occupied Crimea and later to Moscow’s Lefortovo detention center.

The case also features signed affidavits from the accused, made during initial interrogations. The defense argued that the statements cannot be considered evidence because they were obtained under torture. According to the BBC, at least two of the defendants asked to be recognized as prisoners-of-war.

According to the report, during their detention the fathers of two men died, and the daughter of one of the abducted individuals — who was only two years old at the time — died from a lack of medical care.

In a separate case, Russia’s Krasnodar Krai prosecutor’s office reported a verdict against another Ukrainian, Yegor Semenov, accused of attempting to poison participants at a flight school alumni reunion in Armavir. Russian investigators say the incident occurred Oct. 21, 2023, at a local restaurant during a 20th-anniversary celebration for about 70 former cadets. Prosecutors allege that an unknown person delivered a cake and whiskey on behalf of an alumnus who could not attend. Tests of the cake allegedly found pharmaceuticals that could cause cardiac arrest.

Semenov, detained at Stavropol Airport, was sentenced to 27 years in prison — five years in jail and the remainder in a high-security penal colony. Russian authorities claim he acted on orders from Ukraine’s SBU security service and opposed the Russian invasion of Ukraine.