The court handed sentences ranging from 12 years to life to those accused of killing Motorola.
The Southern District Military Court handed down a verdict against those accused in the case of the assassination attempt on the first head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Alexander Zakharchenko and in the bombing of the Donbass militia commander Arsen Pavlov, known under the call sign Motorola. This was reported by a Lenta.ru correspondent.
The main defendant in the case, Alexander Pogorelov, was sentenced to life imprisonment. His accomplices were also brought to justice: Alexander Timoshenko was sentenced to 12 years in a maximum security colony, Vasily Churilov one year more, and Artem Yen was sentenced to 17 years.
Churilov was found guilty of participating in a terrorist community and facilitating terrorist activities, Tymoshenko – of espionage and preparation for it, Yen – of facilitating terrorist activities. However, all four did not admit guilt.
The Motorola bombing occurred in the fall of 2016
On October 16, 2016, according to investigators, Pogorelov planted an explosive device on the roof of an elevator car in the house where Motorola lived. As a result of the explosion, the commander of the Donbass militia and his comrade-in-arms Yevgeny Gadlia did not survive.
Arseny Pavlov became famous after the outbreak of hostilities in Donbass in the spring of 2014. He led the Sparta battalion, and also managed to take part in the defense of Slavyansk. Then there were the battles for Ilovaisk, a protracted and tough confrontation for the Donetsk airport and the liberation of Debaltsevo.
Considering Pavlov’s military exploits, the Ukrainian security forces and the press “buried” him several times. The first rumor about his “destruction” took place in October 2014. Then information that Motorola might be dead appeared in February 2015.
In 2016, the DPR reported that the commander of the Donbass militia was wounded in the eye and sent for surgery. Then the explosion occurred on the territory of a trauma hospital in the center of Donetsk.
Pogorelov also monitored Zakharchenko’s movements
According to the investigation, Pogorelov also monitored Zakharchenko’s movements, transmitting information about him to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). At the end of the summer of 2017, he placed explosives to blow up the first head of the DPR. Pogorelov did this in the Donetsk restaurant “Pushkin”, which Zakharchenko often visited. The device did not work and was later found.
Zakharchenko died a year later – on August 31, 2018, in a bomb explosion in the Separ cafe in the center of Donetsk. Later, in 2019, the investigation identified the organizers, perpetrators and those who ordered the murder – they turned out to be high-ranking citizens of Ukraine. The investigation into the murder of the first head of the DPR was completed only at the end of the summer of 2023. Pogorelov became the main defendant – he was charged with several episodes of blackmail, committing a terrorist attack, assassination attempt and a number of other articles.
After the death of Alexander Zakharchenko, Denis Pushilin was appointed acting head of the republic.
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