Aleksandr Nikulin (judge)
{{Short description|Russian separatist judge}}
{{MOS|date=April 2024}}
Aleksandr Nikulin ({{langx|ru|Александр Никулин}}) is a Donetsk People's Republic supreme court judge since 2019.{{Cite news |last=Nechepurenko |first=Ivan |date=2022-11-05 |title=A judge who sentenced volunteer fighters to death in occupied Ukraine is shot in an apparent assassination attempt. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/06/world/ukraine-war-news-russia-updates |access-date=2022-11-06 |issn=0362-4331}} In 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, he presided the trial of captured Ukrainian and foreign soldiers who surrendered following the Siege of Mariupol and Azovstal plant. The event was described as a show trial, ending in June 2022 with death penalty to foreign prisoners Britons Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner, and Moroccan Brahim Saadoune,{{Cite news |date=2022-06-09 |title=Two Britons, one Moroccan sentenced to death by court of Russian proxy in Ukraine |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/separatist-donbas-region-issues-death-penalty-captured-british-moroccan-fighters-2022-06-09/ |access-date=2022-11-06}} Nikulin describing them as "Nazi".{{Cite news |date=2022-11-05 |title=Attackers injure pro-Russia judge who sentenced foreigners to death in Ukraine |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/attackers-injure-pro-russia-judge-who-sentenced-foreigners-death-ukraine-2022-11-05/ |access-date=2022-11-06}} On November 4, 2022, Nikulin was shot by unknown attackers in Vuhlehirsk and left in critical condition, in what appears to be an assassination attempt.{{Cite web |agency=Agence France-Presse |date=2022-11-05 |title=Judge in Russia-occupied Ukraine in 'serious' condition after assassination attempt |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/05/judge-alexander-nikulin-in-russia-occupied-ukraine-in-serious-condition-after-assassination-attempt |access-date=2022-11-06 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Оккупанты заявили о покушении на "судью Верховного суда ДНР", вынесшего смертные приговоры иностранцам |url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2022/11/5/7375113/ |access-date=2022-11-07 |website=Украинская правда |language=ru}} Denis Pushilin, leader of the DPR, accused Ukraine of commanding the assassination.