Kherson court jails Russian education minister for 12 years

The court sentenced a Russian citizen who worked as the so-called "Minister of Education" during the occupation of Kherson region and publicly supported the actions of the aggressor state.

The sentence was handed down by the Kherson City Court, but so far in absentia, as the defendant is hiding in the occupied territories.

According to the case file, in an interview published in the telegram channel Tavria. News of the Kherson Region on January 24, 2023, the defendant openly justified the temporary occupation of the region and called on educators and schoolchildren to return to the educational process in accordance with Russian standards.

Prosecutors established that between November 2022 and January 2023, the official actively cooperated with the occupation administration, gave interviews to Russian propaganda media and called for support for the occupation structures.

The court proved his guilt in cooperating with the aggressor state and justifying the occupation, for which he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a 15-year ban on holding public office. In addition, all his property was confiscated in favor of the state.

Numerous pieces of evidence were examined during the trial, including screenshots of publications, protocols for reviewing Internet resources, and video recordings of speeches.

According to the Center for Investigative Journalism, he is a 67-year-old Russian citizen Mikhail Rodikov, who from 2015 to 2017 headed the occupation "department of education" in
Sevastopol. Prior to that, he was for a long time the deputy head of one of the departments and the head of one of the departments of the Ministry of Education of Moscow and Moscow region, as well as the deputy head of the administration of Ozersk district of Moscow region.

Intent wrote that a professor who headed a maritime university under the occupiers will be tried in Kherson.

Ірина Глухова