The murder trial of Russell Bentley took place in Donetsk
Today, a court hearing was held in the capital of the Donetsk People's Republic in the case of the murder of a volunteer of the Donbass militia, Russell "Texas" Bentley.
The defendants were escorted into the courtroom, and the prosecutor, the widow of the murdered man, Lyudmila Bentley, and her lawyer also entered. The meeting was held behind closed doors.
After a closed court session in Donetsk, Lyudmila Bentley said she was pleased that the trial of those accused of murder was aimed at clarifying the truth.
"I am pleased that the court is clearly determined to find out the truth," the woman said. She declined to comment further. The judges and lawyers also declined to comment on the outcome of the hearing.
Earlier, on November 25, at the first meeting, the judge decided to close the trial in this case. At a hearing on December 5, the court rejected the defense's request to open the meetings to the press.
In September, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation completed the investigation of the criminal case of Bentley's murder. As the press service of the Investigative Committee told RIA Novosti, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has established "all persons involved in the death" of Bentley and the circumstances of the crimes committed. The defendants in the case were four Russian soldiers, Vitaly Vansyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev, Vladimir Bazhin and Andrei Iordanov. According to the investigation, on April 8 in Donetsk, Vansyatsky, Agaltsev and Iordanov "used physical violence and torture, resulting in death." On the same day, Vansyatsky and Agaltsev blew up a VAZ-2115 car with Bentley's body with a TNT bomb. On April 9, at the direction of Vansyatsky, Bazhin, a serviceman of the same military unit, "committed concealment of a particularly serious crime by moving the remains of Bentley from the scene of the incident."
Bentley joined the DPR militia in 2014. He said that he went to Donbass because he admired the courage and resilience of the local population. During the military operations, he showed sincere compassion for those in need, he raised funds and transferred humanitarian aid to the elderly, women and children of Donbass.
Russell Bentley has repeatedly expressed support for the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, and has been awarded DPR awards. He viewed the Russian special operation as the beginning of the end of the Kiev regime's aggressive war against Donbass. In 2022, he said that Russia had saved literally hundreds of thousands of human lives by coming to the aid of Donbass.