Russia court extends arrest for all captive Ukraine sailors and SBU officers
The Moscow Lefortovo Court extended the arrest of four remaining captive Ukrainian sailors until April 24, 2019.
This was announced to Interfax by the court press secretary Ekaterina Krasnova, Censor.NET reports.
"As ruled by the court, the arrest of Volodymyr Lysovyi, Vladyslav Kostyshev, Volodymyr Varymez and Viktor Bezpalchenko has been extended for three months until April 24," she said.
January 15, Russia court considered the case against the first group of captive Ukrainians Roman Mokriak, Andrii Oprysko, Yevhenii Semydotskyi, and Serhiy Tsybizov. The second group included Bohdan Holovash, Andrii Shevchenko, Serhii Popov, and Andrii Tereshchenko. The third group included SBU officer Andrii Drach and sailors Denys Hrytsenko, Mykhailo Vlasiuk, Viacheslav Zinchenko.
The court also extended the arrest for sailors Oleh Melnychuk, Andrii Eider, Andriy Artemenko, Yurii Budzylo, Bohdan Nebylytsia, Serhii Chulyba, Yurii Bez’iazychnyi and SBU officer Vasyl Soroka.
The lawyers have three days to appeal the decision and say they are going to file appeals for all Ukrainians.
The hearing was closed by order of the FSB. The reading of the decision was open, with journalists and captives’ relatives present.
The lawyers asked for the transfer of cases to a military court, emphasizing their clients are prisoners of war. The judge rejected the motion.
November 25, Russian border vessels committed aggressive actions against three Ukrainian ships that set sail from the port of Odesa to the port of Mariupol in the Azov Sea. After that, Russian special forces opened fire on the Ukrainian tugboat Yany Kapu, small armored artillery boats Berdiansk and Nikopol in the Kerch Strait and seized them. There were 23 sailors on board the ships, and six of them were wounded.
Russia announced its intention to try detained Ukrainian sailors for allegedly illegal crossing of the Russian state border.
November 26, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on the situation in Ukraine related to the latest developments in the Black and Azov Seas.
Later on the same day, Ukraine's parliament gave the green light to a presidential decree on the introduction of martial law for 30 days in 10 regions of Ukraine – Vinnytsia region, Luhansk region, Mykolaiv region, Odesa region, Sumy region, Kharkiv region, Chernihiv region, Kherson region, Donetsk region and Zaporizhia region, as well as the inland waters of the Azov-Kerch water area.
November 28, the Russian district court of Simferopol city in occupied Crimea arrested 24 Ukrainian sailors, who had been captured by Russian FSB near the Kerch Strait, for two months. They all face six years in prison.
November 30, the sailors were transferred to Moscow: 21 Ukrainians were brought to Moscow Lefortovo Prison, the three wounded to Matrosskaya Tishyna.
