The Russian court in Rostov-on-Don illegally sentenced two Ukrainians from Kakhovka to 12 years for espionage

The Rostov Regional Court passed an illegal sentence to two citizens of Ukraine in the espionage case. Maksym Makhno and Serhiy Tkachenko each received 12 years of imprisonment. Evidence of their guilt was not publicly presented.

According to international law, in particular the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War, only properly established courts with judicial guarantees “recognized by civilized nations as necessary” have the right to sentence prisoners. Judicial institutions on the territory of the aggressor country do not meet such criteria in any case. As for civilians, the Russian occupation authorities had no right to detain them or subject them to criminal prosecution.

The prosecutor’s office of the Rostov region informed about the verdict. According to the department, in August 2022, Makhno collected information about the location of personnel and military equipment of the Russian army in the occupied Kakhovka of the Kherson region. It is claimed that he passed this information on to the Security Service of Ukraine. Later, Tkachenko allegedly engaged in the same.

The FSB was investigating the case. It is not known who represented the interests of the accused in the Russian court and what the defense’s arguments were.