{"id":36346,"date":"2024-12-12T13:46:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T10:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/news\/prigovorennyj-k-20-godam-plennyj-boecz-azova-aleksandr-maksimchuk-rasskazal-o-pytkah-v-sizo-taganroga\/"},"modified":"2025-03-24T01:16:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T22:16:06","slug":"prigovorennyj-k-20-godam-plennyj-boecz-azova-aleksandr-maksimchuk-rasskazal-o-pytkah-v-sizo-taganroga","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/prigovorennyj-k-20-godam-plennyj-boecz-azova-aleksandr-maksimchuk-rasskazal-o-pytkah-v-sizo-taganroga\/","title":{"rendered":"Azov POW Oleksandr Maksymchuk sentenced to 20 years recounts torture in Taganrog pre\u2011trial detention centre"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Oleksandr Maksymchuk. Photo: Mediazona<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, a court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Ukrainian prisoner of war Oleksandr Maksymchuk to 20 years in a maximum security prison. Maksymchuk served in Azov, a unit of the AFU which is recognized as a \u201cterrorist organization\u201d in Russia. The trial went unnoticed by journalists, and part of the hearings were closed from the public. After the verdict, Maksymchuk had time to briefly talk to Mediazona\u2019s<\/em> correspondent and spoke about torture in the infamous pre-trial detention centre in Taganrog, where Ukrainians captured by Russia have been kept since the beginning of the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On December 5, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced<\/a> 30-year-old Oleksandr Maksymchuk, a prisoner of war from Ukraine\u2019s Azov Special Operations Brigade, to 20 years in a maximum-security penal colony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maksymchuk was tried on charges of participating in a terrorist community and undergoing training for terrorist activities\u2014standard accusations levelled against captured Azov fighters in Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junior Sergeant Maksymchuk was taken prisoner in May 2022, when he and other Ukrainian soldiers left the besieged Azovstal<\/em> steelworks in Mariupol. Initially, he was held in the former Volnovakha penal colony No. 120 in Olenivka, which had been converted into a filtration camp at the start of the war. Maksymchuk was there on the night of July 29, 2022, when an explosion killed at least 48 prisoners of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In autumn 2022, he was transferred to pre-trial detention centre No. 2 (SIZO-2) in Taganrog, southern Russia.Taganrog\u2019s notorious SIZO-2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oleksandr Maksymchuk\u2019s case was submitted<\/a> to the Southern District Military Court on July 1, 2024. Several months earlier, in the spring, he had been transferred to Rostov-on-Don.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In court, the prisoner immediately stated that he did not admit his guilt and spoke of the torture, including starvation, he had been subjected to in SIZO-2. In August, Maksymchuk was transferred back to Taganrog\u2014ostensibly because SIZO-5 in Rostov was overcrowded<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maksymchuk appeared at hearings via video link twice; each time he asked to be brought to court in person. Visible signs of beating were apparent on the Ukrainian\u2019s face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 17, he asked Judge Pavel Gubarev to call an ambulance to the detention centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour Honour, I request, if possible, to call me an ambulance\u2014I have a headache, have nausea, it looks like a concussion, I also have haematomas on my forehead, under my eye and on my left arm, I want to be examined by a doctor,\u201d Maksymchuk said<\/a> via video link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court eventually ruled to ensure the defendant\u2019s personal participation in the proceedings. He was taken to SIZO-1 in Rostov-on-Don. After a hearing on November 12, he was returned to Taganrog, and then transferred back to Rostov again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On December 2, a Mediazona<\/em> reporter arrived at the court\u2014and the judge closed the hearing, citing security concerns for the participants in the proceedings and their relatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On December 5, the court announced the verdict in an open hearing\u201420 years in a maximum-security penal colony. Before the hearing began, the state prosecutor asked Maksymchuk: \u201cWill you appeal, or do you want to be exchanged sooner?\u201d The prisoner of war replied that he intended to appeal the verdict. \u201cLong live the court\u2014the most humane court in the world, eh?\u201d the prosecutor quipped, citing a famous Soviet-era comedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/cdn.iframe.ly\/api\/iframe?playerjs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2Fd4hfLePCg24&key=03247c38e8d84cf329a4123a2f7254c4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the verdict, in a brief conversation with a Mediazona<\/em> reporter, Maksymchuk confirmed that he intended to file an appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t agree with the court\u2019s decision and I will appeal it. Because I consider myself an innocent person who has been prosecuted. I\u2019m a soldier, I was carrying out the orders of Ukraine, the state. I regret nothing, I repent nothing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prisoner of war added that in Taganrog \u201cevery conceivable and inconceivable method of pressure was used\u201d against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring this time, I was tortured twice, beaten, and also subjected to psychological pressure with the use of special equipment, namely, portable tazers,\u201d he said. \u201cThis was all done to make me recognise the Azov unit as a terrorist organisation, which it is not, and I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll be able to prove that in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maksymchuk cited the Russian Supreme Court ruling recognising Azov as a \u201cterrorist organisation\u201d\u2014AKPI22-411s<\/a>\u2014and confidently said that it would be overturned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then spoke about a Russian citizen named Sergei, whom he met in SIZO-2 in Taganrog. Speaking his final words in court, Sergei had said: \u201cGlory to Ukraine.\u201d He was then tortured into repeating: \u201cGlory to Russia.\u201d Maksymchuk heard these screams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m very grateful to him for that, for his conscious civic position,\u201d the Ukrainian added. \u201cDespite the fact that he is a citizen of the Russian Federation, he supports my country in this situation; he\u2019s a great guy, I respect him for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prisoner of war also spoke of other instances of torture in SIZO-2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were two cases that occurred in 2022, namely, the infliction of grievous bodily harm on my friend and cellmate Pavlo Semenenko, who was beaten during interrogation. He suffered a closed pneumothorax. He was taken to hospital, where he received medical attention. At the moment, I don\u2019t know where he is\u2014I hope he\u2019s been exchanged and he\u2019s all right,\u201d Maksymchuk said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maksymchuk also spoke of the torture he endured in court during the open proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a hearing on November 19, he recounted that after being returned to Taganrog from Rostov, he was tortured with electric shocks, beaten with water pipes, fists, and feet, his eyes and hands bound with tape, and suspended upside down. He lost consciousness several times during the ordeal. The prisoner was pressured to confess his guilt in court, \u201crepent,\u201d and dismiss his lawyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within hours of the verdict, Maksymchuk was once again transferred to Taganrog. According to him, he receives no letters or parcels in the detention centre\u2014although other inmates do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really have much to lose,\u201d he told a Mediazona <\/em>reporter. \u201cI\u2019ve been in detention for more than two and a half years; I\u2019m so used to it that I can\u2019t even imagine what it\u2019s like to be a free man, walking down the street. I don\u2019t know what people do. Have phones, laptops, a house, a dog\u2026 A family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At home, Oleksandr Maksymchuk is awaited by his wife and his son, born in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sergey\u00a0Golubev<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor: Dmitry Tkachev<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-36346","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","regions-rostov-oblast"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAzov POW Oleksandr Maksymchuk sentenced to 20 years recounts torture in Taganrog pre\u2011trial detention centre - Political prisoners support. 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