Under the procedural guidance of the prosecutors of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, 19 residents of the temporarily occupied territories of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine, who fought against our state, were notified of suspicion on the facts of treason, participation in terrorist organizations and illegal armed formations (part 1 of article 111, part 1 Article 258-3, Part 2 Article 260 of the Criminal Code).
According to the investigation, the suspects defected to the enemy during the armed conflict on February 22-23 this year. Most of them served in the same military unit of terrorist organizations in the positions of rank and file and were under the command of servicemen – citizens of the Russian Federation.
Therefore, the specified persons, following the orders of the Russian military command, participated in the conduct of hostilities against the Armed Forces. In particular, they guarded checkpoints and warehouses with ammunition, performed rear support tasks.
They were captured during the offensive of the Armed Forces in the Kharkiv region.
None of them took any action to be captured of their own free will or to voluntarily leave the illegal armed formation. Moreover, as the investigation found out, they were given leaves, after which they returned to their units.
The suspects are being held in a prisoner of war camp.
The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by investigators of the SBU Department in the Lviv Region.
According to Art. 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until his guilt is proven in a legal manner and established by a court verdict.
Department of Information Policy – Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office