Two members of the armed formation known as the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) have been sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison each, with confiscation of property, in a case involving the abuse of a farmer in Ukraine's Kherson region. Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office announced the decision by the Velyka Oleksandrivka District Court on November 2.
According to the Ukrainian prosecution, the man was abducted in April 2022, held in a basement, beaten and burned with a gas torch while his captors demanded $4 million. Prosecutors have classified the defendants' conduct, in part, as a violation of the laws and customs of war.
The office cited Article 111(1), Article 28(2) and Article 438(1) of Ukraine's Criminal Code. The first two provisions concern high treason and commission of an offense by a group, respectively; the last concerns violations of the laws and customs of war. The prosecution set out the alleged circumstances in its announcement, which did not include the full reasoned judgment or the defendants' names.