Former law enforcement officer sentenced to 15 years in Odesa for torturing residents of Kherson region during occupation

A former employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Donetsk region was sentenced to 15 years in prison in Odesa for committing war crimes during the occupation of Kherson region.

This was reported by the press service of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office.

Investigators proved that since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an ex-military officer from Mariupol, who retired from law enforcement in 2014, voluntarily went on the run from the enemy and joined a military unit of the Russian armed forces. He received the call sign "Greek" and took up the position of the so-called "deputy commandant - head of the garrison" of the occupation forces in the village of Lazurne, Skadovsk district.

The area of responsibility of the pseudo-commandant included the settlements of Lazurne, Prymorske, Kruhloozerka, Zaliznyi Port, as well as part of the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve.

The convict took an active part in forcing local authorities to cooperate with the occupation administration. Together with representatives of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation, he detained, tortured and intimidated residents of the temporarily occupied territory.

In particular, in April 2022, he, together with the Russian military, detained the head of one of the village councils of Skadovsk district and a local businessman. For a long time, the men were held in the basement of a boarding house, where they were systematically beaten, threatened with death and shot over their heads, imitating execution. They were demanded to provide information about pro-Ukrainian activists and local residents who could cooperate and provide information to the Security Service of Ukraine.

Earlier, officers of the State Bureau of Investigation completed a pre-trial investigation into a serviceman who leaked information to the Russian Federal Security Service about the location of training grounds in Odesa region.

Кирило Бойко