The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has handed down sentences to the defendants in the case of the murder of the commander of the Sparta militant battalion, Arsen Pavlov (call sign Motorola), and the attempted assassination of the "first head" of the so-called DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko.
There were four people in the dock: Alexander Pogorelov (the main defendant), Vasily Churilov, Alexander Timoshenko and Artyom Yen.
According to the investigation, Alexander Pogorelov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, set an explosive on the roof of the elevator in the house where Motorola lived. This bomb killed the field commander of pro-Russian separatists on October 16, 2016.
Data on Motorola, according to the investigation, collected Vasily Churilov, he received 13 years in a strict regime colony. Alexander Timoshenko was charged under the article on espionage and preparation for it, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Artyom Yena received 17 years of colony for "facilitation of terrorist activity".
In addition, the Ukrainians convicted today were found guilty of attempted assassination of the "first head" of the so-called DPR Alexander Zakharchenko.
Pogorelov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, yesterday claimed that he had been tortured by electric shocks.
Recall, Arsen Pavlov is the first commander of the separatist pro-Russian battalion "Sparta", which was formed in Donetsk in August 2014. Motorola was killed on October 16, 2016 when a bomb exploded in the elevator of his house.
The authorities of the so-called DPR qualified it as a terrorist attack and put the blame on the Security Service of Ukraine (The Security Service of Ukraine).
Almost two years after Motorola's murder, on August 31, 2018, there was an explosion in a restaurant in the center of Donetsk that killed Alexander Zakharchenko. According to the investigation, it was Pogorelov who was conducting surveillance of Zakharchenko and Motorola on Kyiv's instructions.
In August 2017, according to the investigation, Pogorelov placed explosives in the men's restroom of the Pushkin restaurant in Donetsk, where Zakharchenko had entered. The explosion did not occur as the explosives were discovered.
