A deputy of the village council in Kherson region called to move to Russia

Investigators of the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office have served a new suspicion on former deputy of the Bilozersk Village Council Iryna Kozlenkova.

This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General.

According to the investigation, during the Russian occupation of Bilozerka, Kozlenkova cooperated with the occupation authorities. In the summer of 2022, she became the head of the so-called 'Bilozerka Military-Civilian Administration'.

Law enforcers found that on September 9, 2022, speaking at the event "We are together with Russia" organized by the occupiers, she publicly called on local residents to support joining Russia. From the stage, Kozlenkova said: ''I urge you to decide with whom we will live further... shall we join the Russian Federation?

She was served a notice of suspicion under Part 1 of Article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine by publicly calling for changes in the state border. The investigation is ongoing.

This is not the first suspicion against Kozlenkova. In 2023, she was charged with treason for voluntary cooperation with the occupation administration. Before the de-occupation of the right-bank part of the Kherson region, the former MP fled to the temporarily occupied left bank. Her whereabouts are currently unknown.

Earlier, the Novovorontsov District Court sentenced Svitlana Myrnenko, a native of the village of Malokakhovka, Kherson region, to ten years in prison in absentia with confiscation of property, finding her guilty of collaboration.

According to the investigation, in September 2022, the woman facilitated an illegal "referendum" on the"accession" of Kherson region to Russia in occupied Kakhovka. Myrnenko issued ballots for "voting," registered people who participated in the pseudo-election, and encouraged local residents to participate in the "referendum."

One of the witnesses said that the convict also participated in the illegal"elections" of deputies of the Kakhovka municipal district - she was seen with a ballot box in the company of other people who cooperated with the occupation authorities of the Russian Federation.

Катерина Глушко