Igor Gayokha

Mortar platoon commander in the Ukrainian "Aidar" battalion. He was seriously wounded on 3 March 2022 — his colleagues believed he was killed. He was taken prisoner (according to his mother, before that he was stripped and tried to be killed, but he survived), he was kept in the occupied territory of Donetsk region of Ukraine: first in hospital, since 13 April - officially in custody. He was charged under a number of articles of the Criminal Code of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic: the investigation considered him to be one of the organisers of the activities of a terrorist organisation. After the Russian Federation declared the DPR part of its territory, the charges were reclassified in accordance with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: Gayokha was accused of participating in the activities of a terrorist organization, violently seizing power, and undergoing training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities. Human rights activists note that he is a prisoner of war, so he should not have been prosecuted for participating in hostilities, and furthermore, they consider the charges absurd. On 17 October 2025, Gayokha was sentenced to 18 years in a strict regime colony.