Former lieutenant colonel sentenced to life for deporting prisoners from Kherson

Instead of enforcing the law, the lieutenant colonel of the internal service became the main logistician of the occupation's "justice". He personally supervised a large-scale operation, sending 1,500 Kherson prisoners to Russian prisons.

This was reported by the press service of the National Police in the Kherson region.

In the spring of 2022, an employee of the Kherson region's penitentiary system voluntarily began to cooperate with the occupation administration, which created its own "penitentiary service." At the end of May, he was appointed "first deputy head" of this illegal body.

Before the full-scale invasion, the man worked in a state institution in Kherson, but after the occupation, he actively carried out orders from the invaders and his new superiors.

According to the investigation, in October 2022, he organized the forced transfer of convicts from the Kherson institution to a colony on the left bank of the region. Subsequently, under his leadership, more than 1500 prisoners were taken to places of detention in the temporarily occupied territories and Russia. For this purpose, special cars were used, and the operation itself was carried out under his personal control.

Law enforcement officers found that these actions were part of a concerted plan of the occupation authorities. The defendant was charged with high treason and violation of the laws and customs of war committed in collusion by a group of persons.

During the pre-trial investigation, investigators collected sufficient evidence of his involvement in the crimes. The court considered the case in absentia and found the defendant guilty.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment with confiscation of property and stripped of his special rank of lieutenant colonel of the internal service.

Also in February, a Mykolaiv court found Yevhen Sobolev, the former head of the Northern Correctional Colony #90, guilty of war crimes. The collaborator was convicted of violating the laws and customs of war, namely the forced deportation of convicts.

Анна Бальчінос