The Supreme Court of Russia recognized the Ukrainian regiment "Azov" as a terrorist organization
The Supreme Court of Russia recognized the Ukrainian regiment "Azov" as a terrorist organization and banned its activities in the country. Criminal cases have already been initiated against members of the group, including under articles on extremism and mercenary activities.
Terrorist organization
The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation granted the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office to recognize the Azov regiment (the organization is banned in Russia) as a terrorist organization, Interfax reports. The case was considered partially in closed mode due to the materials classified as "secret". The Court announced the operative part of the decision.
In the open part of the process, Alexander Dyukov, director of the Historical Memory Foundation, presented the work "Neo-Nazism and Terrorism in the ideology and activities of the Azov Movement in Ukraine," Marina Akhmedova, a journalist and member of the Presidential Human Rights Council, Georgy Volkov, a human rights activist, and Maxim Grigoriev, director of the Democracy Research Foundation. According to the agency, they collected facts and information about the activities of "Azov" and the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbass.
According to RIA Novosti, Dyukov said that the participants of "Azov" adhere to neo-Nazi ideology. He also quoted articles by the founders of the regiment containing, in his opinion, signs of "extreme biological racism", that is, the recognition of people of other races as a different biological species.
"To recognize the Ukrainian paramilitary nationalist association "Azov" (other names used are the Azov Battalion, the Azov Regiment) as a terrorist organization and prohibit its activities on the territory of the Russian Federation," the Supreme Court said in its decision.
In addition, "the decision regarding the prohibition of the organization's activities is subject to immediate execution."
According to RIA Novosti, the Criminal Code of Russia provides for the punishment of members of terrorist organizations in the form of imprisonment for a period of 10 to 20 years. The organizers of such communities face spending 15 to 20 years behind bars. However, the law exempts from liability citizens who voluntarily left the organization before the start of investigative actions and detention by law enforcement agencies.
Criminal cases
The Investigative Committee of Russia is investigating several criminal cases initiated against members of the Azov regiment.
For example, the chairman of the RF IC, Alexander Bastrykin, instructed on April 1 of this year to record and investigate the fact of the crime of the Azov regiment, about which a refugee from Mariupol told.
"According to media reports, neo-Nazis from the Ukrainian Azov regiment killed policemen in Mariupol for the sake of staged photos and videos, with the help of which it was planned to accuse Russian servicemen of committing these crimes," the press service of the IC reported.
In addition, on April 22, Bastrykin instructed the central office to give a criminal legal assessment of the statements of the founder of the Azov regiment, Andrei Biletsky.
"Andriy Biletsky publicly outlined the possibility of a strike by Ukrainian armed formations using the Tochka-U tactical missile system on participants of the Immortal Regiment march, which is planned in Mariupol. At the same time, he called the march itself a provocation of the Ukrainian people, and these criminal actions against civilians - an adequate response," the message published on the UK website says.
Criminal cases have also been initiated against members of "Azov" because of the shelling of civilians in Donbass.
During the military special operation in Ukraine, many representatives of the regiment were captured. In particular, on May 20, the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Igor Konashenkov, said at a briefing that the head of the Russian department, Sergei Shoigu, reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin about taking control of the territory of the Azovstal plant and the capture of 2,439 soldiers of the Azov regiment and the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces for the entire time of the special operation.
Then the commander of "Azov" Denis Prokopenko was taken out of the territory of the plant in a special armored car. As Konashenkov explained, this was done "because of the hatred of Mariupol residents and the desire of the citizens to punish him for numerous atrocities."
In turn, the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin repeatedly talked about the exchange of prisoners with Kiev. In particular, dozens of Azov fighters were transferred to Ukraine.
In addition, the Basmanny Court of Moscow on Tuesday sentenced a Russian citizen to nine years in absentia for participating in the activities of the Azov regiment, RIA Novosti reports. The court found Anton Korolev guilty under articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Mercenary activity" and "Public calls for extremist activity".
Maria Shustrova
