A Ukrainian court sentenced four Russian prisoners of war to 11 years in prison each for war crimes, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported on Saturday.

According to the organization’s press release transmitted to EFE, four men were captured in a battle in the northern district of Kharkiv in October this year, Agerpres reports.

According to the SBU, two of them are servicemen of the 16th separate special brigade of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces of the Russian military intelligence, the other two are mercenaries of a private company.

The actions for which they were convicted took place in September in the village of Borova, where four men participated in the kidnapping of three villagers in order to obtain information from them.

The convicts kept the detainees in an earthen pit with their heads covered with plastic bags, and during the interrogations they were “brutally” tortured and threatened with death, but eventually they were released.

A court in Poltava region (center) on Friday found them guilty of conspiracy to violate martial law under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and sentenced them to eleven years in prison, as requested by the prosecutor’s office.

The verdict can still be appealed.

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