Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin, 21, has appealed a life sentence in Ukraine. In Russia, there are powerful forces who want the death penalty for Ukrainian soldiers from Azovstal.
In order for Russia to become a member of the Council of Europe, they had to stop the death penalty. This came in a so-called moratorium introduced by Russia in 1996. But after the invasion of Ukraine, The country is now banned from the Council of Europe.
Russian politicians have introduced two different types of capital punishment:
- Ukrainian soldiers will be tried in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, where it will be possible to sentence them to death. Russia recognizes people’s republics as its own.
- Russia reintroduces the death penalty – thus repealing the voluntary ban on Ukrainian soldiers in 1996.
More than 1,900 Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered from Azovstal, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
- Leonid Slutsky, well-known politician in the State Duma, They suggested that they make exceptions In order to stop the non-implementation of the death penalty on the Azov soldiers and to give the court the opportunity to impose the death penalty on them.
- Senator Andre Kleisgas has Proposed to conduct trials Against the “neo-Nazis” from Azov in the “people’s republics” Donetsk and Luhansk, because the Russian moratorium does not apply there.
- Former President Dmitry Medvedev proposed reintroducing the death penalty on social media earlier in the war, which was reproduced by the government body, among others. Roseskaga Gazeta. The argument at the time was that it should apply to the worst criminals. But it is possible that soon the Azov regiment will be designated a “terrorist organization” in Russia.
Ban prisoner exchange?
On May 17, a debate took place in Parliament in which some, including the leader of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, called for a ban on the exchange of Azov prisoners of war with Russian prisoners of war. Volodin calls the Ukrainian prisoners “Nazi criminals”.
However, others have suggested that they be exchanged with Viktor Medvedchuk, the pro-Russian Ukrainian politician who was arrested by Ukrainian intelligence on April 13.
– It is very difficult to use the death penalty and possibly carry out the death penalty even during hostilities, says Gorm Hurst in the “Department of Political Science” at Aarhus University to VG.
It is also aware that the death penalty for prisoners of war is a violation of the laws of war.
– During the war itself, you risk getting killed, but then you destroy the war power, the other side’s ability to wage war. Once a soldier is arrested, there is no reason to kill.
The Nuremberg trials
Hearst refers to the Nuremberg trials after World War II.
– At that time they waited until the end of the war. If Russia or Ukraine carry out the death penalty now, it will help escalate the war. It is very problematic.
War destroys power. Any death penalty should be an extension of peace negotiations — what exists in conditions of peace, says Gorm Hurst.
– clear violation
Former NATO general Egon Rams told German ZDF that it would be a clear violation of international law if Ukrainian prisoners in Russia were sentenced to death.
Soldiers evacuated from Mariupol, including the wounded, are sent to military families. Ramez says this process is regulated by the 1949 Geneva Convention.
“When I hear politicians in Douma openly saying that Ukrainian prisoners could face the death penalty, the Russian deputies either misinterpreted the law again or started committing war crimes again,” He says in the interview, It was quoted by Deutsche Welle, who also wrote that the Moscow Supreme Court on Thursday this week will decide whether the Azov Battalion should be classified as a “terrorist organization” and therefore be banned in Russia.
Reportedly, the request of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office will be discussed behind closed doors Deutsche Welle.
– All prisoners from Azovstal are on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic, said the leader of the republic, Denis Pushilin, according to the propaganda channel. RT.
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