19-year-old from Russian-occupied Luhansk faces 15-year sentence for donation to Ukraine’s Azov Regiment
Ivan Semykoz, a 19-year-old from occupied Luhansk oblast, is about to go on ‘trial’ at the notorious Southern District Military Court in Rostov. He is charged under Russian legislation with ‘financing terrorist activities’ because of a single donation he made to the Ukrainian Armed Forces ‘Azov Regiment’ and faces a sentence of up to 15 years’ imprisonment.
The young Ukrainian is from Bilovodsk in occupied Luhansk oblast and lives with his mother and younger sister. His captors claim that in February, “from his place of residence”, Ivan used a mobile app (Oshad24/7) to send a donation to the account of the Azov Regiment. There is no information as to how the occupation regime came to know of such a private donation via a banking app, with the terror such surveillance instils doubtless part of the reason for these show trials.
All of Russia’s prosecutions of Ukrainians under Russian legislation are illegal, however ‘terrorism’ charges over donations in support of Ukrainian defenders are particularly cynical. The charge of ‘abetting terrorist activities’, under Article 205.1.1 of Russia’s criminal code, is based solely on a Russian supreme court ruling from 2 August 2022, five months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This labelled the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Azov Regiment a ‘terrorist organization’ and banned it on “the territory of the Russian Federation”. Russia is now claiming that illegally occupied parts of Ukraine have ‘joined the Russian Federation’, hence such absurd charges.
According to the Russian occupation ‘Investigative Committee’ report on 30 October, the young man was detained by Russia’s FSB in the Bilovodsk raion and has doubtless been in detention ever since. Although there is no information as to whether he has an independent lawyer, it is highly unlikely that he had one when he gave a ‘confession’ on video, saying: “I understand that I committed an offence, that I transferred money to the bank card of an Azov member. I admit my guilt and am deeply repentant.”
Such videoed ‘confessions’ have been a standard part of Russia’s persecution of Ukrainians since 2014. In virtually all cases where a person has either later been released, or has at least received access to a proper lawyer, they have stated that the ‘confession’ was obtained through torture or threats against themselves, or their family.
If Semykoz was promised release or a milder sentence if he ‘repented’ on video, he was almost certainly deceived. The report about a one-off donation to Azov members, defending Ukraine, is under the charge of “an investigator of the first department on investigating particularly important cases” and is headed for the Southern District Military Court. the latter has been issuing huge politically motivated sentences against Ukrainians since 2014.
This is not the first such prosecution, with Russia’s Investigative Committee reporting on 8 August 2024 that a Luhansk occupation ‘military court’ had sentenced a Ukrainian to eight and a half years in a maximum-security prison colony. He too was accused of ‘financing terrorism’, with the only difference being that he had made at least eight money transfers to support the Azov Regiment.
On 17 July 2024, Danylo Yefimov, another 19-year-old from occupied Snizhne (Donetsk oblast), was also sentenced by the court in Rostov to 12 years’ maximum-security imprisonment. He had made several money transfers (around $144 in total) to the Serhiy Prytula Foundation which supports both Ukraine’s defenders and civilians suffering as the result of Russia’s aggression.
Russia had twice imposed periods of administrative detention against Yefimov. It was during the second 30-day term of imprisonment that he refused to sign the documents thrust in front of him, ‘admitting guilt’. He was arrested on 15 January 2024 and accused of ‘state treason’ for the money transfers although this is nonsense since he is not a Russian citizen. He was taken to the SIZO [remand prison] in Rostov [Russia] where, through torture or threats of even worse reprisals, he agreed to provide a so-called ‘confession’.