The court handed down a life sentence to a Ukrainian infantryman

Ukrainian Armed Forces Marine received life sentence for incitement to murder

The Supreme Court of the DPR sentenced the commander of the 36th separate brigade of the Marine Corps Battalion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Kirilenko. He was accused of cruelty to civilians and incitement to commit murder motivated by political and ideological hatred. This was reported by the press service of the Russian Investigative Committee.

During the investigation, it turned out that in March 2022, Kirilenko’s subordinates were located at the “Punisher” combat position in the village of Volonterovka, Ilyichevsky district, Mariupol. That day, senior sailor Yevgeny Vakhnenko detained a local resident, dressed in civilian clothes, for violating the curfew.

Kirilenko ordered the liquidation of the detainee, indicating that he had seen the location of Ukrainian positions and could convey this information to Russian troops. The illegal order was handed over to Evgeny Vakhnenko and Vladimir Pafitsevich. Both sailors shot the 44-year-old man with their machine guns.

Later, in order to hide the murder, Pafitsevich tied a red bandage to the dead man’s clothes, symbolizing support for the Russian army. However, the investigation revealed this fact, and based on the evidence collected, the commander of the marine battalion, Alexander Kirilenko, was found guilty of committing these crimes and received a life sentence (in absentia). He is on the international wanted list. Pafitsevich and Vakhnenko received 22 years of strict imprisonment.