Kherson resident receives 15 years in prison for working for the migration service of the Russian Federation

The court found a resident of Kherson guilty of collaboration. The woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property and a ban on working in government and law enforcement positions.

This was reported by Vgoru with reference to the court verdict.

The Kherson City Court sentenced local resident Tatiana Smirnova in absentia, finding her guilty of collaborating with the Russian occupiers. The woman was sentenced to fifteen years in prison with confiscation of property. In addition, she is banned from working in state and local government, law enforcement agencies and public services for the next 15 years.

According to the investigation, in September 2022, Smirnova took up the position of a leading expert specialist in the so-called migration service department created by the occupation administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kherson region. Her job was to translate documents and enter data into Russian passports. Four witnesses confirmed that she did indeed work in this institution.

Before the outbreak of the full-scale war, Smirnova lived in Germany for some time, and at the end of 2021 she returned to Kherson, where she got a job as a saleswoman. After the city was captured by Russian troops, the woman voluntarily joined the occupation structures and was given a position in the occupation migration service. Before the liberation of Kherson, she told her friends that she was planning to move to Genichesk.

Additional evidence of her cooperation with the occupiers was a statement found in the premises of Kherson State University, which was used by Russian troops during the occupation. In the document, Smirnova expressed her intention to enter the law faculty of the university created by the occupiers, indicating the migration service as her place of work.

Also in Kherson, a former city council official was served with a notice of suspicion, who voluntarily went to work for the invaders' structures after the occupation. She received a position in the illegal administration and followed the instructions of the Russian authorities. Prior to the outbreak of full-scale war, Vershinina worked as a state registrar at the Kherson City Council, where she was responsible for registering real estate rights and encumbrances.

Анна Бальчінос