Donetsk resident falsely accused of participating in the war on the side of the occupier

The Lviv Court of Appeal has upheld the acquittal of Oleksandr Cherenkov by the Halytskyi District Court of Lviv. The trial concerned 40-year-old Oleksandr Cherenkov from Donetsk, who was falsely accused by the prosecutor's office of a number of serious crimes, including high treason, participation in a terrorist organization and an illegal armed group in the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region.

This was reported by the Center for Investigative Journalism with reference to a meeting of the Lviv Court of Appeal on October 29, 2025.

The real criminal was his full namesake, 35-year-old Oleksandr Cherenkov from the city of Snizhne, Donetsk region. Despite the fact that the accused has been living and working in the Sultanate of Oman under contract since 2017, the prosecutor insisted on his guilt. In the end, the Court of Appeal found that Cherenkov's guilt had not been proven, upholding the first instance verdict.

To prove his innocence, the man provided the court with numerous pieces of evidence: border crossing stamps, bank statements, lease agreements, and even screenshots of photos with geolocation in Oman. ''I couldn't post photos on Instagram from Oman while I was in a Russian trench,'' he commented in court. His innocence was also confirmed by a forensic portrait examination.

Despite all the evidence, the prosecutor's office insisted on his guilt to the end and asked for 13 years in prison, suggesting that Cherenkov 'could have returned from Oman through Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia'. However, the court rejected these arguments, upholding the acquittal.

After the final acquittal of an innocent man, the Lviv regional prosecutor 's office refused to comment on whether it plans to correct its mistake and bring the real militant from Snizhne to justice.

Катерина Глушко