Judges from Crimea brought to justice for treason

Since the beginning of the year, the ARC Prosecutor's Office has brought more than 240 cases against Crimean judges who collaborated with the occupation authorities to court. Several have already been convicted, and dozens are awaiting a court decision.

This is stated in the response of the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to ZMINA's request.

In criminal proceedings, the pre-trial investigation in which was carried out by the Investigation Department of the Main Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine in the ARC, indictments have already been sent to court against 25 people who served as judges in illegal structures on the occupied peninsula.

Of these:

• 22 are accused under Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code - collaboration;
• 1 - under Article 111 of the Criminal Code - high treason;
• 3 - under Article 438 of the CCU - violation of the laws and customs of war (war crimes).

The court has already handed down 5 guilty verdicts in these cases, the prosecutor's office said.

Separately, under the procedural guidance of the ARC prosecutors, 218 more indictments against former Crimean judges were submitted to the court in cases investigated by the second investigation department of the SBI Territorial Department (based in Kherson). These are people who remained on the peninsula after 2014 and joined the system of the so-called judiciary of the Russian Federation, recognizing its jurisdiction.

In addition, the SBU Investigative Department in the ARC also served notice of suspicion to 15 Russian propagandists who spread Kremlin narratives and justified the occupation of Crimea. Fourteen proceedings have been opened, and two guilty verdicts have already been handed down.

The ARC Prosecutor's Office noted that the work on collecting evidence and bringing to justice those who betrayed their oath and assisted the occupation authorities continues.

Recently, three so-called "judges" from the temporarily occupied Crimea were notified of suspicion of collaboration. They face up to 15 years in prison. According to the investigation, in 2022-2024, Ukrainian citizens voluntarily cooperated with the enemy and took positions in illegally created "courts": one in the "Arbitration Court of the Republic of Crimea", two others in the occupation Sevastopol City Court, including one of them as a "deputy chairman".

Анна Бальчінос