Mariupol defender from Azov sentenced to 22 years in penal colony in Russia
Russian occupying forces have sentenced Valerii Yeremieiev, a defender of Mariupol and a serviceman of the 1st Corps of the National Guard Azov, to 22 years in a penal colony.
According to Ukrinform, this was reported on Telegram by the city council of Ukrainian Mariupol.
“The so-called court has once again delivered a verdict for an invented crime against a defender of Mariupol. The Azov serviceman Valerii Yeremieiev has been sentenced to imprisonment for the alleged ‘shooting of a civilian’,” the statement reads.
According to the occupiers, the Ukrainian serviceman allegedly shot a man in a car due to his “pro-Russian views.”
“The invaders, following their script, have already proclaimed that the defender acted according to the ‘plan of the Kyiv regime.’ Naturally, there was no independent expert examination, nor were independent lawyers involved, nor was there an evidentiary basis capable of substantiating the charges,” the city council emphasized.
By the “court’s” verdict, Valerii Yeremieiev has been sentenced to 22 years of imprisonment to be served in a high-security correctional colony.
“All verdicts against the defenders of Mariupol are delivered with a single purpose — to discredit Ukrainian defenders and to blame them for the destruction of the city by distorting reality,” the statement stressed.
The council also recalled that it was Russian troops who invaded the territory of Ukraine in 2022 and placed Mariupol under total blockade, leaving the city’s residents without water, food, or medicine for nearly three months, and depriving them of any possibility to evacuate. Russian occupying forces relentlessly shelled the city, destroying not only critical infrastructure but also thousands of residential buildings, as well as hospitals and schools where civilians were sheltering.
As reported by Ukrinform, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don (Russian Federation) sentenced the 31-year-old Ukrainian prisoner of war Anatolii Roslavtsev to 19 years of imprisonment.
Photo: Mariupol City Council/Telegram