MOSCOW. May 23 (Interfax) - The Supreme Court of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) has sentenced a Ukrainian serviceman to life in prison for shooting a Russian prisoner of war in Mariupol, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office said on Tuesday.
"The Supreme Court of the Donetsk People's Republic handed down a life sentence to a serviceman of the National Guard of the Azov nationalist regiment [banned in Russia], Junior Sergeant Alexei Kyrkalov. He was found guilty under Points B and V, Part 2 of Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code (murder of an individual in connection with the performance of service while incapacitated), and Part 1 of Article 356 of the Russian Criminal Code (cruel treatment of civilians, the use of prohibited means and methods in an armed conflict)," the Main Military Prosecutor's Office said.
The court established that Kyrkalov "took a handcuffed and blindfolded Russian military prisoner of war from the basement out to the street and shot him at least three times with a pistol in the back of the head" in the DPR city of Mariupol on April 15 last year.
The court agreed with the state prosecutor, who is a representative of the Military Prosecutor's Office of the Joint Group of Forces, and sentenced Kyrkalov to life imprisonment, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office added.
Meanwhile, "despite the defendant denying his guilt, the testimony collected in the case, the findings of examinations, and other evidence in the criminal case proved the guilt of Kyrkalov," the Investigative Committee said.