Police chief from Kherson region sentenced for working for occupiers

The court found the head of the occupation police in Henichesk, Kherson region, guilty. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for collaboration.

According to the Center for Investigative Journalism, the accused is 37-year-old Volodymyr Kalchenko. The Kherson City Court sentenced him to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property in absentia, as he has been wanted since 2022.

Kalchenko voluntarily agreed to head the occupation police department in May 2022. Witnesses confirmed that they saw him in a uniform with Russian chevrons and weapons. He also actively recruited former colleagues to work for the occupiers.

In addition to his prison term, Kalchenko is prohibited from holding public office and engaging in law enforcement activities. His land plot in Henichesk will be confiscated. The sentence has not yet entered into force.

According to the CJR, Kalchenko began working as the head of the "police department" of the Genichesk district before its official registration in the Russian register of legal entities on March 3, 2023.

Volodymyr Kalchenko is a native of the city of Saki, Crimea, a resident of the village of Novooleksiyivka, Genichesk community, and a police captain. He worked first as an operative, and from 2017 to 2020 as the head of the personnel support sector in the Genichesk Police Department of the Main Department of the National Police in Kherson Oblast. In 2019, he was an official observer at the presidential election for candidate Petro Poroshenko.

Recently, the Beryslav collaborator, who helped the Russian occupiers in search of Ukrainian patriots, was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

In addition, the court sentenced a resident of Chornobaivka who organized a base for Russian military equipment and helped to resettle Russians during the occupation of Kherson region. The man was found guilty of aiding the aggressor state and sentenced to 10 years.

Also, a resident of Henichesk, who resettled Russian soldiers in other people's homes, helped to set up checkpoints and supported passportization on the left bank of Kherson region, faces up to 12 years in prison.

Ірина Глухова