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On May 25th, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, commented on the possibility of a tribunal over Ukrainian neo-Nazis.
At a briefing, Maria Zakharova confirmed that all Ukrainian militants from Azovstal who committed war crimes will be punished.
“As for responsibility, then, of course, all those who committed war crimes will be punished as they deserve,” Maria Zakharova said.
According to the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the tribunal is planned to take place on the territory of the DPR.
She added that the leadership of the Donetsk People’s Republic plans to create an international tribunal on the territory of the republic for the trial of nationalists from Azovstal. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko claimed earlier that it wass unknown whether representatives of other countries will take part in the tribunal.
Earlier, the head of the DPR stated that the main task is for the tribunal to be transparent and to be held with maximum publicity, “so that as many people as possible learn about those crimes of neo—Nazis, which in principle are unacceptable.” One of the first stages of the tribunal may take place in Mariupol. The DPR Prosecutor General’s Office is currently preparing the necessary documents together with Russian relevant departments.
The death penalty still legally exists in the DPR. In August 2014, the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian USSR of the 1961 was adopted in the Republic. Article 58 provides the death penalty for particularly serious crimes. Execution may not be applied to minors, persons who have reached 65 years of age at the time of sentencing, as well as women. The death penalty may be replaced by life imprisonment or imprisonment for up to 25 years.
