The Goloseevsky district court of Kiev on Tuesday will resume its consideration on the merits of citizens of Russia Evgeniy Erofeev and Aleksandr Aleksandrov, arrested in Ukraine in may.

in the process of preparatory meetings for the Lawyers and Erofeeva Alexandrov petitioned the court to postpone the trial from Kiev to Lugansk region (controlled by Ukraine) due to violations of legal norms In the definition of Kiev forum. Later, the High specialized court for civil and criminal Affairs of Ukraine appointed the venue of the court Goloseevskiy district court of Kyiv.


Erofeev and Aleksandrov were caught by the Ukrainian security forces on may 16 in the area of the city Happiness in the area of contact of the Ukrainian security forces and militias self-proclaimed Luhansk national Republic (LNR). In the end, what happened firefight fighting groups of opponents, one Ukrainian soldier died, three received damage to health. In this battle, Erofeev was wounded in the arm and Aleksandrov - up. Then the battle Erofeev and Aleksandrov were caught by employees of the SBU.

The nineteenth of may the Russians were expressed suspicion of terrorist activities in the area of power special operations, and 3 days later the Kyiv court arrested them. Later the Russians were made elective surgery in the Kiev military hospital. However, despite the condition, captured was transferred from the hospital to the remand prison.

Immediately After restrictions on the freedom Erofeev and Aleksandrova in Kiev told that they like are the Russian military personnel and special forces. The Russian defense Ministry denied this information. The Ministry indicated that "at the time of his detention" Russian citizens have already retired from the military power of the Russian Federation.

then the Russian defense Ministry explained that " in truth these people before he did military service under the contract in Armed forces of the Russian Federation. Event associated with their departure from the Russian Federation and stay in the territory of Ukraine, have occurred After retirement from active service and is not associated with its passage."

The head LNR Igor Carpentry, explaining the detention, said they are the fighters of the people's militia of the Republic.


the hearing of the case concerning Russian citizens of the Ukrainian police lasted several months from the time of their detention. Originally Erofeev and Alexandrov was charged with suspicion of belonging to terrorist activities. However in the process of investigation were made fresh suspicions: waging aggressive war, illegal border crossing, illegal movement of weapons and ammunition, illegal possession of weapons, illegal entry to the occupied territories, as well as the outbreak of military conflict.

lawyer Erofeev Oksana Sokolovsky considers the vast number of these allegations are unfounded. In her vision we have to talk about the spying of Russian citizens. In addition, she has stated many times about the violation of a consequence of legal rules and about the pressure on Russian citizens from bodies of a pretrial investigation and detention center personnel. According to the lawyer, they were offered a cooperation with the investigation, political asylum in Ukraine in exchange for a reduced sentence from what Erofeev did not want. For its part, Aleksandrov, according to his lawyer Konstantin Kravchuk, has consented to the engagement, But forbade the defence to clarify the status of the investigation.

The investigation of citizens of Russia ended in September, and the indictment was sent to the Kiev court. Sokolov considers that such decision of the Prosecutor's office violates the jurisdiction, since the events of may in Lugansk region are not connected with Kiev. Because of this, the preliminary meeting on September 29, protection of Russian citizens have petitioned to return an indictment in the investigation.

Lawyers also disagree with the charges against Erofeev and gave the result. According to Sokolovsky, the maximum penalty for the indictments has the ability to be in jail for the rest of your life. She Sokolovsky sure that the maximum penalty for her client (as Alexandrov) must be a minimum of 7 years of punishment under articles "contraband" and " bear arms ".


The question of a possible exchange of prisoners for Russian citizens were discussed since their arrest in may. There was a different version of their exchange: Ukrainka Hope Savchenko or convicted in the Russian Federation film Director Oleg Sentsov and activist Oleksandr Kolchenko. In the media many times there were messages about the fact that proper dialogues already taking place at different levels, or even that they have already traded.

However, these data have many times refuted the SBU, the Ministry of defense of Ukraine, lawyers of the arrested, and also Authorized the Russian authorities. In the main military Prosecutor's office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine believes that the exchange of Russian citizens is still possible, However this will happen only After trial.

"Russia is party to international law, for this reason, if these citizens are convicted and transferred, then Russia needs to supply a serving of recompense for its residents who have committed iniquities within a particular country," explained the Ukrainian chief military Prosecutor Anatoly Matios.

However, he ruled out the possibility of exchange of Russian citizens before completion of trial and entry of judgment into legal force.

sections: Politics