United Kingdom has condemned the rejection of appeal for a Ukrainian prisoner of war, Maksym Butkevych who was sentenced to 13 years in prison by the so-called Luhansk people’s republic.
According to the statement released from the office of Foreign Commonwealth and Development on Wednesday the rejection, described it as sham trial that lacks legitimacy.
The British Government called on the Russian Federation to abide by the international humanitarian law and treat Mr Butkevych appropriately as a prisoner of war according to the Geneva Convention.
The statement reads: We are concerned by the treatment of Ukrainian prisoner of war Maksym Butkevych who was sentenced to 13 years in prison by the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic and has had an appeal against this sentence denied by a Moscow court.
“This sham trial lacks legitimacy and we call on the Russian Federation to abide by international humanitarian law and treat Mr Butkevych appropriately as a prisoner of war according to the Geneva Convention”, the statement added.
Meanwhile, the First Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction in Moscow rejected the appeal against the sentence of 13 years in a penal colony.
Which was passed in the case of Ukrainian human rights defender, captured serviceman Maksym Butkevych by a “court” in the temporarily occupied territory of Luhansk region.
As Mediazona reports, judges Melekhov, Izotieva, and Troyan upheld a 13-year prison sentence but ruled to count the actual time spent in custody from August 19, 2022 — that is, from the moment when the Ministry of Defense of Russia recognized the fact of Butkevych’s imprisonment.
Butkevych’s lawyer Leonid Solovyov who told his client after the judgment was delivered that, “We are waiting for exchange. If there is no exchange – we will file a cassation appeal.”
Butkevych, known in Ukraine for several decades’ worth of anti-racist and anti-fascist activism, captured in June near Hirske village in Luhansk region along with other members of his unit, according to recent Ukrainian media reports.
Butkevych’s capture was announced on 24 June by Russian forces, who published a video of his interrogation online. His mother, Yevheniya, told openDemocracy that she had not heard from her son since.
According to her, “The main thing I want now is to hear him – preferably see him – on the phone, to make sure that he was not subjected to physical or psychological torture and that he is more or less OK,” she said.
The Amnesty International who called for Butkevych’s release showed in a detailed four-page analysis, the sham trial process used against him had “all the hallmarks of a forced confession obtained under torture or other forms of duress”.
Butkevych was accused by Russian captors of deliberately firing at a group of civilians with a hand-held anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher in June last year, with his accusers saying his actions had wounded two people and damaged a residential building.