Odesa court sentences man to three years for raping woman in Kherson SIZO

In Odesa, a court found a man guilty of kidnapping and raping a woman in the Kherson pre-trial detention center. The incident occurred on November 11, 2022, the day the city was liberated from occupation.

This is evidenced by the verdict of the Khadzhybeyskyi District Court of Odesa.

According to the investigation, the accused, a native of Tavriysk, previously convicted and unemployed, lured the victim to a cell in the pre-trial detention center at 4 Druzhby Street under the pretext of checking her documents. There, he held her against her will for several hours, threatened her with physical violence, inflicted bodily harm and committed sexual assault.

At the court hearing, the accused did not admit his guilt in the abduction and violence and told his version of the events. According to him, on November 11, 2022, he was in a pre-trial detention center in Kherson.

The occupiers opened the cells and let all the prisoners out. There were five people in his cell, including his brother and two acquaintances. They left the detention center and went to the apartment of one of the prisoners, but his wife was not there, so he and one of the men went to other acquaintances' place and had breakfast. The others went home. They stayed with their friends until 3 pm. Then one of them called and offered to pick up their things from the pre-trial detention center, but because of the crowd and the rush, they did not take their things. Then they walked around the city center - that day they celebrated the liberation of Kherson.

After that, the accused stayed with his friend until November 19. He claims that he had served his sentence, but the Russians kept him for another four months. On that day, he went to the police station to resolve the issue of his departure, and then learned about the rape charges. He denied his guilt and claimed that he had never seen the victims before and had only met them in court.

The victim said that on November 11, around 14:00, while passing by the building of the Kherson Regional Directorate of Radio Scythia, she decided to check her office through the window. Together with a colleague, they entered the building from Druzhby Street to assess the damage and looting. Then they were approached by a man wearing a bulletproof vest who ordered them to follow him to check their documents and cell phones.

The man took the phones, then sent his colleague to wait in one of the rooms, and took the victim to a cell on the second floor of the detention center, where he stripped her naked and beat her, and then raped her in a natural and unnatural way. She was then forced to put on her clothes and taken to the yard.

A witness, the victim's brother, corroborated her testimony. He said that he last saw his sister in early November 2022. After the liberation of the city, she came to him scared, with swollen eyes, told him about the rape and immediately went with him to the police.

The victim's colleague confirmed that on that day, around 2 p.m., they met a man in a bulletproof vest who ordered them to follow him to the pre-trial detention center to check his documents and cell phones. After handing over the phones, the man sent him to wait, and took the victim to the back of the room. He never saw her again.

The man was found guilty of kidnapping and sexual violence. He was sentenced to three years in prison, with pre-trial detention from January 2, 2023, counted towards the sentence. He also has to pay the state more than 32 thousand hryvnias for the examinations.

In November, the Rozdilnyansky District Court reconsidered the case of Vitaliy Tsybulsky, accused of systematic violence against children. He had previously been sentenced to 14 years, but the verdict was overturned due to violations of procedural rules.

Анна Бальчінос