Benza Sergey Romanovich (Benza Sergiy Romanovich)

In Mariupol, the occupied part of the Donetsk region, no later than April 2022, servicemen of the 36th separate brigade of the marine infantry of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Sergey Benza, Yan Danilov, and Ivan Taran fell into captivity of Russian servicemen. They were accused of killing two or more people and attempting to kill him, as well as of cruel treatment of the civilian population and the use of prohibited methods in armed conflict. According to the case materials, the defendants acted as part of an organized group motivated by political and ideological hatred. According to the Russian investigation, in March and April 2022 in Mariupol, Benza, as a company commander, gave orders to his subordinates Danilov and Taran to kill civilians. Military personnel equipped combat positions in residential buildings on Nikopol Prospect and Domennaya Street. In one of the houses, Taran shot two people: the man died, while the woman survived by feigning death. Then he shot a woman on the second floor of the house, and together with Danilov killed another civilian. On Domennaya Street, Taran, on the orders of his commander, shot a local resident and her son in a shed. A total of seven people died as a result of the actions of the defendants. On or before November 30 and December 19, 2023, the Supreme Court of the Donetsk People's Republic found the defendants guilty and sentenced Sergey Benz to life imprisonment in a strict regime penal colony. Yan Danilov was sentenced by the court to 24 years of imprisonment in a strict regime colony, and Ivan Taran was also sentenced by the court to life imprisonment in a special regime colony. There is no information about appealing the verdicts. On October 17, 2024, Ivan Taran was released as a result of a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine. On February 5, 2025, Sergei Benz was released as part of a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine.