Kherson resident boasts of salary from occupants and goes to jail for 12 years

A resident of Kherson was sentenced to prison for collaborating with the occupiers. He bragged about his salary and agitated other citizens to go to work for the Nazis.

This is stated in the verdict of the Khadzhybeyskyi District Court of Odesa.

According to the court, in May 2022, the man, knowing about the capture of the city by Russian armed groups, agreed to take a position as a junior inspector in the Northern Correctional Colony No. 90, an illegally created body by the occupation authorities. In June 2022, he was transferred to a similar position in SIZO No. 1 in Kherson, where he continued to perform prisoner supervision and regime maintenance duties. The man held this position until November 11, 2023, when the city was de-occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Witnesses said that he boasted about his work, showed his ID card with the coat of arms of the Russian Federation and told his friends about working conditions and salary in rubles. One day, while walking to the store, he approached the witness, a retired lieutenant colonel of the service, showed his ID and said that he was already an employee of the criminal service. The witness was outraged by the presence of the Russian coat of arms on the ID, remembering his father's patriotic beliefs. The defendant then boasted that he was receiving "good money" and agitated others to go to work for the occupiers.

Witnesses saw him being picked up in a car with a "z" license plate. He also talked to other locals and showed his ID.

The colony and SIZO staff confirmed that the man was responsible for monitoring the convicts, checking their presence in the cells and compliance with the regime. He was paid in rubles and had a junior inspector's certificate. The defendant himself stated in court that he worked in the occupied territory only because of financial need, had no contact with the Russian military, did not use violence and worked in civilian clothes or Ukrainian uniform.

The court did not accept the explanations as a justification, considering them as an attempt to avoid responsibility, and sentenced him to 12 years in prison with simultaneous disqualification from holding public and law enforcement positions for 15 years.

Vadym Panchenko, 56, was also sentenced to ten years in prison and confiscation of property for collaborating with the occupation authorities. Before the invasion, he worked as a school guard, and during the occupation, he accompanied the Russian military, pointed out to them the places of residence of Ukrainian patriots and ATO participants, and helped to resettle the occupiers in the village, including on the territory of Kamianskyi PrJSC and in the premises of the kindergarten.

Анна Бальчінос