A judge from the Odesa region was sentenced to 14 years for working for the Russians

In Ukraine, a sentence was handed down to an arbitration judge who agreed to work for Russia. The judge, a native of the Odesa region, was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

The verdict was handed down by the Kherson City Court. 

According to the case file, the defendant was born in the village of Novoivanivka in the former Artsyz District of the Odesa region. The court heard the case in her absence.

According to the verdict, the woman voluntarily agreed to serve as a judge on the so-called “Kherson Oblast Arbitration Court,” established by the Russian occupation authorities. In September 2023, she was appointed to this position by decree of the President of the Russian Federation.

After her appointment, she worked in Henichesk and issued court rulings on behalf of Russia. The Ukrainian court concluded that by doing so, the woman aided the occupying authorities in the occupied territory of the Kherson region.

Prior to her appointment to the occupation court, the woman served as a judge of the Zaliznychny District Court of Simferopol in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. In 2019, the High Council of Justice dismissed her from that position due to a serious disciplinary offense.

As part of the new criminal proceedings, the court examined, in particular, information from Russian websites regarding the woman’s appointment and the decisions she had rendered in the occupation court.

The prosecutor requested that she be sentenced to 14 years in prison, barred from holding positions in judicial and law enforcement agencies for 15 years, and have her property confiscated. The defense argued that the prosecution had failed to prove the woman’s intent or that her appointment was voluntary.

The court found her guilty of voluntarily assuming a position in an illegal judicial body in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. The sentence includes 14 years of imprisonment, a 15-year ban on holding relevant positions, and the confiscation of all property belonging to her.

The prison term will be counted from the moment of the convicted woman’s actual arrest. 

Ірина Глухова