A court in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, supported by Russia, has sentenced an official from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring mission to 14 years in prison for alleged "espionage."

Vadym Golda was convicted by the Supreme Court of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic for reportedly collecting intelligence on industrial sites to guide missile strikes in the region, according to Russia's prosecutor general.

Russian prosecutors claimed that the missile strikes Golda allegedly assisted in caused nearly 100 million roubles ($1.1m) in damages.

The OSCE based in Vienna criticized the ruling as a serious breach of participating States' obligations under international law, demanding the immediate release of Golda and two other OSCE officials imprisoned in the area.

In addition to Golda's sentence, two other officials, Maxim Petrov and Dmytro Shabanov, have been detained in Russian-controlled Ukraine since 2022. Petrov and Shabanov were each given 13-year prison terms on charges of treason following closed trials in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic.

OSCE Chair @MinisterIanBorg and OSCE Secretary General @HelgaSchmid_SG strongly condemned the sentencing of Vadym Golda, urging the release of all three detained OSCE officials.

OSCE Secretary-General Helga Maria Schmid vowed to use all means to bring the officials back to their families, emphasizing that international mandates like those of OSCE officials should not lead to arrest or detention.

The OSCE, a 57-nation intergovernmental organization, including Russia and Ukraine, deployed a monitoring mission to eastern Ukraine between 2014 and 2022. However, its extension was blocked by Moscow shortly after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Calls for hospital attack prosecution

The OSCE has produced multiple reports on potential crimes related to the conflict and alleged crimes against humanity committed by Russian armed forces in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Chief Prosecutor Andriy Kostin urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute Russia for a recent missile strike on the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv, resulting in the deaths of two hospital workers.

Although Russia denies involvement in the hospital attack, a UN rights mission suggested a high probability that a Russian missile hit the facility directly.

The ICC has issued six arrest warrants for alleged Russian offenses in Ukraine, including one against President Vladimir Putin.