Three Ukrainians convicted in Rostov-on-Don were taken to Chechnya

Ukrainian citizens convicted by a military court in Rostov-on-Don were transferred from the Rostov pretrial detention center to Grozny before the appeal. They had previously reported torture.

In December 2024, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Ukrainian citizens Sergei Fedosenko, Vladislav Vodolazsky, and Vitaly Dzyuba to long prison terms on charges of attempting to blow up a Russian checkpoint in the Zaporizhia region.

The court sentenced Fedosenko to 15 years in a strict regime prison, Vodolazsky to 13 years, and Dzyuba to 10 years, the court's press service reported.

Vladislav Vodolazsky, who was an active serviceman at the time of his detention by Russian military, testified in court that he confessed under torture; Fedosenko and Dzyuba also testified about torture with electric shocks and beatings, the Memorial Society reported on its Telegram channel.

The convicts filed an appeal against the verdict; the Military Court of Appeal scheduled its hearing for August 15. The day before the hearing, on August 14, all three Ukrainian citizens were “suddenly transferred to Detention Center No. 1 in Grozny,” Mediazona reported*.

The convicted Ukrainians participated in the hearing of the appellate court via video link. Vodolazsky indicated in his appeal that the Russian authorities should treat him and Fedosenko as prisoners of war, since they served in the Ukrainian armed forces. The appeal court reduced the prison terms of all three by six months.

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, previously claimed that in Chechnya "up to 10 Ukrainian prisoners are being held at each strategic facility" who are being used as "human shields" and hostages. On October 29, 2024, when a drone attack caught fire at a building on the territory of the Russian Special Forces University (RUS) in Gudermes, Kadyrov said that Ukrainian prisoners had died there.

In January 2024, Kadyrov offered to release 20 Ukrainian soldiers in exchange for lifting sanctions on his relatives, horses, and planes, but after criticism from z-bloggers, he called these words "fat trolling."

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