While the court tried the men on the basis of them being foreign mercenaries, the defendants and their families maintained that they were living in Ukraine legally and fought officially with Ukraine, which would grant them the protection of being legitimate prisoners of war, protected by the Geneva convention.

Only a small portion of the closed trial was made public through pro-Russian media. Observers said it’s a “show trial” with “trumped up charges” put on “to imitate trials of Russian soldiers in Ukraine.”