The State Duma of the Russian Federation proposes to try the captured fighters of the Ukrainian volunteer regiment " On May 17, Speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin announced the inadmissibility of the return of prisoners to Ukraine, calling them "

In turn, the chairman of the Duma Committee on International Affairs and a member of the Russian delegation at the talks with Kyiv, Leonid Slutsky, proposed to abolish, for the sake of trying the soldiers of the Azov regiment who are among the prisoners, the de facto moratorium on the death penalty in Russia since 1996, in order to "

In Germany, the words of Russian parliamentarians caused undisguised surprise and alarm. " It is possible that Putin's government will declare the Azov regiment a terrorist organization and arrange a "

The decision to recognize Azov as a terrorist organization and ban its activities in Russia is likely to be made by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on May 26. The corresponding lawsuit filed by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation will be considered behind closed doors.

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According to a military expert from Germany, former NATO General Egon Ramms, if Ukrainian prisoners in Russia are sentenced to capital punishment, this will be a clear violation of international law.. " This process is regulated by the Geneva Convention of 1949, Ramms said in an interview with the ZDF public television channel.. - And when I hear that the deputies of the Duma suddenly say publicly that they (Ukrainian prisoners. - Red. ) faces the death penalty, I think that the Russian representatives, apparently, have once again either misinterpreted the legal situation or are starting to commit war crimes again"

As Andreas von Arnauld, Professor at the Faculty of Law at the Christian Albrecht University in Kiel, explained to DW, prisoners of war can only be tried for war crimes, not for participation in a military conflict.. However, they have the right to an independent and impartial judiciary..

The Geneva Convention for the Treatment of Prisoners of War was adopted in August 1949.. Article 13 of this document states: " Any unlawful act or omission on the part of the Detaining Power which results in the death of a prisoner of war in its power, or which seriously endangers the health of a prisoner of war, is prohibited and will be considered a serious breach of this Convention."

Europe, i.e. 47 member states of the Council of Europe, including the Russian Federation and excluding Belarus, is considered a death penalty-free zone. Its cancellation was a criterion for admission to the Council of Europe. However, on March 16, Russia withdrew (more precisely, was excluded) from the Council of Europe.. This also implies withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights.. However, the decision to withdraw a state from the Council of Europe comes into force only six months after the adoption of the relevant decision.. Thus, human rights violations committed before mid-September 2022 against persons under the jurisdiction of Russia can still be referred to the European Court of Human Rights. This will also apply to possible cases of torture or even execution of the fighters of the Azov regiment, which would be a violation of their right to life..

Ukrainian human rights activists are anxiously following the fate of their compatriots. The head of the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine, lawyer Oleksandra Matviychuk, in an interview with the British online publication inews, called on the UN to provide additional guarantees that Moscow will adhere to the provisions of international law and treat Ukrainian prisoners of war with dignity. In her opinion, the story of the defenders of Azovstal "

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that more than 1,700 Ukrainian soldiers left Azovstal.

Commenting on the evacuation of the Ukrainian military from Azovstal, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Anna Malyar promised that an exchange procedure would be carried out for their " President of the country Volodymyr Zelensky also expressed hope that the lives of soldiers could be saved: "