The Supreme Court of the DPR issued a sentence to the senior sergeant of the nationalist unit “Azov” (recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia) Maxim Kondrashev (call sign Rush). According to investigators, he shot a minibus with refugees from a machine gun, killing four of its passengers.
A court in Donetsk considered a criminal case against senior sergeant Maxim Kondrashev, commander of the anti-aircraft missile division of military unit No. Rush is accused of committing crimes under paragraph “a” part 2 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (murder of two or more persons) and Part 1 of Art. 356 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (ill-treatment of the civilian population and the use of prohibited methods in an armed conflict).
A native of Pavlodar (Dnipropetrovsk region), he served in the division under a contract from the end of November 2020 until he was captured by the military of the Russian Federation, that is, until May 18 last year. In his unit, Maxim Kondrashev was the squad leader.
According to the TFR, since the beginning of the SVO, Sergeant Kondrashev, along with other military personnel c. part No. 3057 was located in Mariupol, including on the territory of the public joint-stock company MK Azovstal.
At 9 pm on March 2 last year, the senior sergeant, along with his colleagues, was sent to the intersection of Shevchenko and Grecheskaya streets in Mariupol, where they took up positions. An hour later, Kondrashev drew attention to a white Mercedes sprinter minibus moving along Grecheskaya.
According to investigators, Kondrashev “clearly saw that civilians dressed in civilian clothes were driving this bus, as well as in its cabin, who did not take part in the armed conflict, were not armed and did not provide any assistance to the enemy.”
When the sprinter did not stop, the senior sergeant opened fire on him from a Kalashnikov assault rifle. According to a witness from among Kondrashev’s colleagues, he fired at the minivan, starting from the windows of the driver’s door and ending with its rear. After the shelling, the car drove about ten meters and stopped at the side of the road. The bodies of three men and a woman were found in the cabin. These were local residents who were gathering dust to escape from the fighting.
The court, where the prosecution was supported by the united group of troops and forces in the Donbass, found the defendant guilty of all the crimes he was charged with. Cumulatively, he was sentenced to life in prison.