MOSCOW (AP) — A lawyer for two Russian servicemen on trial in Ukraine has been found dead.

Yuri Grabovsky was representing Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev who were captured last year in the rebel-held eastern Ukraine. The men admitted they were Russian officers but Moscow said they had resigned from active duty.

The Ukrainian National Bar Association said in a statement Friday that Grabovsky who was declared missing earlier this month was found murdered. The group said suspects in the lawyer's murder have been detained.

Hearings in the trial of the two Russians had been adjourned in early March when Grabovsky did not show up in court

Russia has repeatedly denied it was supplying the separatists with equipment or recruits.