Alexey Smykov

From 2018 to 6 March 2022 served in the Ukrainian regiment "Azov" as a sniper, mortar gunner, machine gunner, radio telephonist-diver. On 6 March 2022, he was captured during fighting in Mariupol. He was accused of forcible seizure and retention of power, participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation and receiving training to carry out terrorist activities. Human rights activists note that he is a prisoner of war, so he should not have been held criminally liable actually for participation in hostilities, and in addition, they consider the charges absurd. According to women who were tried in the same case and handed over to Ukraine as part of the prisoner-of-war exchange, Smykov was beaten on the head with a pistol while in custody in Donetsk. At the same time, the appointed defence lawyer said, "It would be better if you were beaten." On 26 March 2025, Smykov was sentenced to 23 years in a strict regime colony.