Ukrainian prosecutors demand Russian GRU officers receive 15-year jail terms
Ukraine's public prosecution demands that two Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) officers Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev be imprisoned for 15 years with confiscation of property for having committed grave crimes in Ukrainian territory, including aggressive war and an act of terrorism, which has inflicted deaths.
Participating in the pleadings, prosecutor Ihor Nimchenko said that the fact that Alexandrov and Yerofeyev are Russian officers who were committing their commander's order raises no doubt and has been completely proven.
"There are full confirmations of the fact of aggressive war by Russian special operations forces… The professional servicemen were executing the order of their command to conduct the aggressive war," he said.
"I ask that Yerofeyev be found guilty of committing the crimes with the punishment assigned as 15 years in prison. With confiscation of property," representative of the state prosecution Maksym Krym said.
The prosecutors demand the same punishment for the other Russian serviceman Alexandrov.
In keeping with Ukrainian law, lawyers for the defense and prosecution will make closing arguments, followed by final statements from the defendants. The judges will then recess to their chambers to formulate their verdict.
On May 16, 2015, Russian military servicemen Alexandrov and Yerofeyev were detained near the town of Schastia, Luhansk region of Ukraine, according to Kyiv, in an attempt to seize a strategic bridge.
On May 19, Ukrainian detectives told the Russians that they were suspected of crimes stipulated under Article 258-3 of the Ukrainian Penal Code for involvement in terrorist activities. The Kyiv Shevchenkivsky District Court ordered their arrest on May 22.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that Yerofeyev and Alexandrov were not on Russian military duty at the moment of their detention in Ukraine.
The Board of the High Specialized Court of Ukraine decided on October 15 that Kyiv's Holosiyivskiy District Court would hear the case of the Russians. The court began to hear the merits of the case on November 10.
