Russia parades heroic Avostal steel plant fighters in grim show trial

Russia parades the 22 heroic Avostal steel plant fighters in grim ‘show trial’ after they were captured defending besieged Mariupol

• 14 men and eight women wore visibly dirty prison clothing as they stood for trial
• They are accused by Moscow of terrorism offences and face life sentences 

A court in Russia is conducting a grim show trial for more than 20 Ukrainian soldiers who were captured defending the Azovstal steel factory in Mariupol last year.

The 22 captured fighters lined a glass cage at the back of a military courtroom in the city of Rostov, southern Russia, on Wednesday, accused by Moscow of terrorism offences where they face life sentences.

Appearing malnourished and thin, 14 men and eight women wore visibly dirty prison clothing as they stood for trial. Many of them had their heads shaved.

Kyiv hit back at the Kremlin’s show trial, labelling it as another Russian war crime.

The captured soldiers were members of the Azov battalion, an elite Ukrainian armed forces unit that fought Russian troops in the Sea of Azov port of Mariupol. Russia captured Mariupol last year after a three-month battle that reduced most of the city to smoldering ruins.

Oleksiy Smykov and Artem Grebeshkov, members of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment captured in Mariupol in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, attend a court hearing in Rostov

Ukrainian soldiers who were taken prisoner during fighting sit inside a defendant’s glass cage during a hearing at the Southern District Military Court in Rostov

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, called it a ‘show trial’ that was ‘nothing but disgusting’.

‘Glossy prosecutors and dressed-up jurors with brilliant smiles “judge” boys and girls who look like skeletons after a concentration camp and torture,’ he said. 

‘Such abuse of combatants is an official war crime that has to be properly assessed by the ICC [International Criminal Court].’

It is understood that the defendants appearing in the glass cage fought in Ukraine’s Azov Regiment that defended the Azovstal steel plant for three months against Russia’s invasion.

The last remaining Ukrainian defenders who holed up at a giant steel mill in Mariupol surrendered to Russian forces in May 2022.

Russian authorities have designated the Azov battalion as a terrorist group.

The defendants are facing charges of involvement in a terrorist organization and taking part in action to overthrow the Russia-backed authorities in the Donetsk region.

They face sentences ranging from 15 years to life in prison if convicted.

Lawyers sit in front of the defendants’ enclosure with members of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment captured in Mariupol in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict

The 22 captured fighters lined a glass cage at the back of a military court room in the city of Rostov, southern Russia, on Wednesday

Ukrainian prisoners of war sit in the defendant’s cage during a hearing in the Southern District Military Court in Rostov

Of the remaining 22 defendants facing the trial (pictured in the background), eight are women, who reportedly worked as cooks for the Azov battalion

Of the 24 people who have faced the charges, two have been swapped for Russian prisoners of war as part of a prisoner exchange.

Of the remaining 22 defendants facing the trial, eight are women, who reportedly worked as cooks for the Azov battalion.

Russia has regularly tried to use the Azov Regiment as proof that it is fighting Nazis in Ukraine – a frequent excuse for the war spurted by Putin himself.

When it was first formed as a private militia in 2014, the regiment had links to neo-Nazis before it was cleaned up by Kyiv’s authorities and brought under the control of the Ukrainian military.

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