The Southern District Military Court of Rostov-on-Don received materials from a criminal case against three Russian servicemen. Mediazona drew attention to the case file on the court’s website.
A case was filed against Alexander Askalepov, Dmitry Mayborodin and Yaroslav Yartsev under several articles. All three are accused of intentional causing grievous bodily harm resulting in the death of a person, illegal deprivation freedom by an organized group and exceededofficial powers that resulted in the death of a person. In addition, Askalepov and Yartsev are charged with violation of the statutory rules, which entailed grave consequences, and for Yartsev — violent actions in relation to the boss.
Stanislav Fidelsky, Dmitry Mayborodin’s lawyer, called his client an unfairly accused “man-legend” and added that the servicemen’s defense will seek to have their case tried by a jury. According to the lawyer, all three defendants served in the Sokol volunteer battalion in the Kherson region, and they are accused of a “far-fetched crime.” However, Fidelsky did not talk about the details of the accusation.
“Mayborodin is a pensioner of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, born in 1981, from 2015 to 2021 he performed tasks outside of Russia, has four state awards, three of them were appointed by closed decrees,” Fidelsky told Mediazona. — He spent 43 days, from February 8 to March 23, 2023, as a prisoner of war in an iron carriage in the Kherson region. Without windows, without doors — neither day nor night is visible. A bucket, water and a loaf of bread once a day.”
According to Fidelsky, all three defendants are special forces soldiers, while the accused Yaroslav Yartsev is no longer alive. In the community of the “Martial Arts Club No. 1” of Voronezh it is said that serviceman Yartsev died “in the South-East of Ukraine during a shooting battle, while trying to come to the aid of a wounded comrade.”
“A preventive measure was chosen for them — a written undertaking not to leave the place, and then they were sent to the SVO zone,” Fidelsky said. “It was while performing special tasks that he [Yartsev] died.”
Dmitry Mayborodin is in the guardhouse in Sevastopol, the lawyer added.
“Now [the case has been transferred] to the Kherson Garrison Military Court, but we are asking to change the territorial jurisdiction,” Fidelsky said. — It’s hard to drive, no VKS, witnesses 25 people — most of them live in the Rostov, Moscow region, Krasnodar region, Tatarstan. It is difficult to ensure their appearance [in court]. We ask you to change the jurisdiction to the Rostov or Novocherkassk [military courts].”
One of the three defendants in the case, Alexander Askalepov, told Mediazona that he would not comment on the details of the charges before the trial.
“All I can tell you is that we were accused of something that we did not commit, and the court will sort it out,” he said.
When asked about his location, Askalepov said, which is located on the territory of Ukraine. “Of course, I defend [nrzb],” he replied.