Russia sentences Ukrainian to 8.5 years for donation as a teenager to Ukraine’s Azov Regiment

20-year-old Ivan Semykoz has been convicted by a Russian court of ‘financing terrorist activities over a single donation that the then 19-year-old Ukrainian from occupied Bilovodsk (Luhansk oblast) made to the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Azov Regiment.  This was claimed to constitute ‘financing terrorist activities’, with the young Ukrainian sentenced to eight and a half years’ maximum-security imprisonment.

Russia is increasingly concocting lawless trials of Ukrainians from occupied territory over donations in support of Ukraine’s defenders.  It often makes use of the fact that Ukrainians cannot work, receive healthcare or uphold their property rights on occupied territory without taking Russian citizenship to then charge them with ‘treason’ for supporting their own country.  

Since the Russian reports call Ivan Semykoz a Ukrainian citizen, the young man, who lived with his mother and sister, had clearly not taken a Russian passport.  The Russian invaders therefore used the fact that Ivan’s modest (50 UAH) donation had been to the Azov Regiment as excuse for absurd ‘terrorism’ charges.  This was on the basis of a Russian supreme court ruling from 2 August 2022 declaring the Azov Regiment, which is a part of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, to be ‘a terrorist organization’.  Soldiers from Azov had valiantly defended Mariupol to the last, and the supreme court ruling was very widely viewed as a political move, aimed at providing a pretext for Russian reprisals against Ukrainian prisoners of war.  This has, indeed, proven to be the case, however Russia is also using the ruling as a weapon of repression on occupied territory aimed at crushing resistance to its occupation. 

It is chillingly unclear how the occupation ‘authorities’ learned of the single donation which the 19-year-old had made via a mobile banking app (Oshad24/7) to the account of the Azov Regiment.  It is known that Russia is forcing Internet providers to release information and also provide access to accounts, with this one reason why resistance movements, like Yellow Ribbon, encourage people on occupied territory to install VPNs.  On any area under occupation, the Russians also regularly stop people, and invariably check their phones for pro-Ukrainian content.  ‘Trials’ like that against Semykoz are, doubtless, partly aimed at instilling terror, convincing the population on occupied territory that all their activities are under surveillance.

The Russian occupation ‘Investigative Committee’ reported on 30 October 2024 that Semykoz had been seized by Russia’s FSB in the Bilovodsk raion.  The young man, who was almost certainly being held incommunicado, without access to an independent lawyer, was shown making a so-called ‘confession’ on video, stating “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.”

The report of his sentence, seemingly passed on 28 January 2025, also asserts that Semykoz signed an agreement to cooperate with the prosecution and ‘admitted guilt’. 

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.  The person detained will also be aware that they have no chance of a fair trial, and if threatened with a significantly higher sentence if they refuse to ‘cooperate’, and may well agree to admit the charges for fear of a worse sentence.

Russia is flouting international law in all such cases merely by applying its legislation on occupied territory, not to mention its denial of the right to a fair trial and very likely use of torture.  Semykoz was charged with ‘abetting terrorist activities’, under Article 205.1.1 of Russia’s criminal code, with this claimed to have been through his 50 UAH donation to the Azov Regiment.

The ’trial’ took place at the Southern District Military Court in Rostov which has been handing down politically motivated sentences against Ukrainians since 2014.  The sentence was passed by ‘judge’ Pavel Yurievich Gubarev who is also known to have taken part in many other such predetermined political trials.

This is the second time in just over six months that  a Ukrainian from occupied Luhansk oblast has been sentenced to 8.5 years on the same lawless charge over a donation to the Azov Regiment.  The Russian Investigative Committee report, however, on 8 August 2024 did not mention either the victim’s name, or the ‘court’ which had issued the sentence.

On 17 July 2024, a Russian court sentenced 19-year-old Danylo Yefimov from occupied Snizhne (Donetsk oblast) to 12 years in a maximum-security prison colony.  In his case, the young man had made several money transfers (around $144 in total) to the Serhiy Prytula Foundation, with this discovered when the young man tried to go on holiday with his family to Turkey.  After two terms of administrative arrest on fabricated charges, the Russians charged Danylo with ‘state treason’.  The young man had clearly been subjected to torture, and also doubtless agreed to admit to the charges in the hope of a lower sentence.  He was brutally deceived, with the 12-year sentence of maximum-security, or ‘harsh regime’ imprisonment.

These are not the only cases known to have been laid over donations to Ukraine’s Armed Forces.  The real number is difficult to gauge because of Russia’s destruction of all free media and repression against anyone contacting Ukrainian media or reporting such persecution on social media.