The "Supreme Courts" of the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR issued verdicts in three criminal cases against Ukrainians Viktor Pokhozey, Maksim Butkevich and Vladislav Shel. All three were found guilty of ill-treatment of civilians and the use of prohibited methods in war (part 1 of article 356 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In addition, Butkevich was charged with the attempted murder of two persons in a generally dangerous way and deliberate damage to someone else's property in a generally dangerous way (part 3 of article 30, paragraphs “a” and “e”, part 2 of article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Shel was also found guilty of attempted murder motivated by ideological and ethnic hatred (part 3 of article 30, paragraph “l” of part 2 of article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Pokhozei was sentenced to 8.5 years in a strict regime colony, Butkevich – 13 years, Shel – 18.5 years.
Pokhozey and Shel are members of the Ukrainian Azov Battalion, which, in particular, defended Mariupol until the moment of occupation. The Investigative Committee claims that on March 23, 2022, he “permitted ill-treatment” with a resident of Mariupol and hit her in the body, face and legs with a rifle butt. Shel is accused of shooting an elderly man five times, “pursuing the goal of intimidating civilians”. It is alleged that he managed to duck down and therefore survived.
Butkevich is a Ukrainian human rights activist and co-founder of Hromadske Radio. According to the Investigative Committee, on March 20, 2022, while serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a platoon commander, he went into one of the apartments in Severodonetsk and fired at the entrance of a residential building opposite to scare civilians. The shot, according to the UK, was fired from an anti-tank grenade launcher, as a result two people were injured. At the end of June, Butkevich was taken prisoner in the area of Zolote and Gorny, Lugansk region.