Ex-Minister of Education of Crimea to be tried for betrayal of Ukraine

In Ukraine, the former head of the Ministry of Education of Crimea was suspected of treason and faces up to 15 years in prison.

According to the prosecutor's office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, since 2001 the suspect has worked in educational institutions of the peninsula, and in 2012 she became the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports of the ARC. After the annexation of Crimea, she was appointed by the Russian authorities to a similar position, which she held until 2019.

As noted, the defendant aggressively introduced Russian educational standards and led the closure of Ukrainian-language educational institutions on the peninsula.

"The offender forced the management of Crimean schools to put pressure on pro-Ukrainian teachers and students, as well as to destroy all Ukrainian educational and artistic literature," the statement said.

The prosecutor's office did not name the attacker, but Intent found that it may be Natalia Goncharova.

Earlier, former Crimean judge Irina Erokhina was sentenced to 12 years in prison for high treason. She ruled against Ukrainian citizens for political reasons, including convicting Crimean Tatars and pro-Ukrainian activists. For example, in 2020, Erokhina sentenced Nariman Mezhmedinov to 8 years in prison for allegedly participating in a "volunteer battalion of Crimean Tatars," and in 2023, she fined the Crimean for his anti-war statements.

The court also convicted Natalia Lysytska, a servicewoman of the 57th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade of the South Operational Command, in absentia, of aiding the aggressor state. The woman was dismissed from military service, and in June 2022, she was already distributing material aid from the occupiers in the amount of 10 thousand Russian rubles to residents of the Novokakhovka community.

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