Crimean court arrests 12 detained Ukrainian sailors for two months

A local court in occupied Crimea ruled on Nov. 27 to
arrest for two months 12 Ukrainian sailors detained on Sunday for allegedly illegally
entering Russian waters, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that day.
They are charged with premeditatedly, illegally crossing Russia’s border as a
group, the maximum sentence for which is six years, and they will be imprisoned
in Simferopol. Several sailors have already pleaded not guilty, alleging they
did not cross any border. One sailor, Serhiy Tsybizov, said Russian authorities
“pressured him psychologically to offer necessary evidence.” 

The Ukrainian government considers the arrested
Ukrainian sailors to be war prisoners, “captured by Russian Somali pirates in
neutral waters,” said on her Facebook page Iryna Gerashchenko, the first vice
speaker of parliament and the head of Ukraine’s delegation to the humanitarian
subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk. Russia has refused to offer
information about the condition of the prisoners and hasn’t allowed lawyers to
meet with all of them, she said.

In their turn, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)
and Ukraine’s military prosecutor’s office officially named eight suspects
among the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) borders agents who are
responsible for firing at the Ukrainian sailors and illegally detaining them.
The official criminal charges are planning, preparing and conducting a war of
aggression and attempted murder.

Zenon Zawada: Another 12
sailors are still under detention in the city of Kerch and will likely be
gradually arrested in similar fashion. We expect the drama over these sailors
will drag out for months, if not years, similar to other past high-profile
Ukrainian prisoners in Russia. We expect more armed conflicts in Ukraine’s
maritime zone.