Kherson City Council official cooperates with the occupiers

The Kherson City Court handed down a harsh sentence in absentia to <b>Oksana Barnash</b>, the former longtime director of Kherson Specialized School No. 30 and former member of the City Council's Executive Committee.

This became known from the relevant court verdict.

She was found guilty of collaboration (Part 3 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code) and aiding the aggressor state (Part 1 of Article 111-2 of the Criminal Code). The court sentenced her to twelve years in prison with confiscation of property and deprivation of the right to hold leadership positions and engage in pedagogical and teaching activities for 15 years. The case was heard in absentia, as Barnash and her husband are currently in hiding in Russia, where she works at a school in St. Petersburg.

The court considered it proven that Barnash accepted the offer of the occupation "administration" and agreed to becomethe "director" of a Russian education institution - "State Budgetary Educational Institution of Kherson Region 'Kherson Specialized School No. 30...". She continued to run the school as a Russian 'SBOU', despite the fact that the Kherson City Council's Education Department officially suspended her employment contract. She signed orders, formed the staff, approved the workload and internal documents.

The accused organized the transition to Russian educational standards, held meetings where she convinced the staff that the training would be based on the Russian program and that there was no "difference" between Russian and Ukrainian programs. She organized the admission of students for the 2022-2023 school year according to the standards of the Russian Federation, issued them Russian textbooks in the entire range of subjects: Russian language, literature, Russian history, and the sciences.

The school kept journals in Russian, with a list of subjects in accordance with the Russian FSES. Barnash undermined the Ukrainian education system in the community by organizing a full-time educational process according to the Russian program, contrary to Ukrainian decisions on distance learning.

In addition, the former director conducted personnel policy in favor of the occupiers, personally selected teachers, issued orders for appointment and paid some employees salaries in Russian rubles under the provisions of the occupation's 'labor remuneration system'. She also organized the payment of one-time 'assistance' to families with children under the orders of the occupation 'authorities', thus facilitating financial cooperation with the aggressor.

The court also found that, pursuant to an order of the occupation 'administration' Barnash provided round-the-clock security for the school by armed Russian military, and Russian flags and portraits of Putin were placed on the premises. The school was actively used for filming propaganda stories. Among the proven crimes is the facilitation of thedeparture of children to camps in Crimea and Tuapse, which is regarded as facilitating the removal(deportation) of children to Russia/Crimea.

Катерина Глушко