Russians steal unfinished criminal cases from occupied court in Kherson region

In the temporarily occupied part of Kherson region, another case of concealment of crimes by Russian security forces and collaborators has been recorded. Unfinished criminal proceedings, in particular those related to theft, have disappeared from the premises of the so-called 'Holoprystan court'.

This was reported by the Yellow Ribbon resistance movement.

The disappearance of the archives coincided with a staff rotation. This week, a new judge appeared in court, brought from the Rostov region of Russia. She cynically stated that there were no cases, effectively canceling the pending proceedings.

Activists emphasize that such 'disappearances' are a systematic step of the occupation administration aimed at concealing the crimes of both the military and local collaborators. The situation is part of a wider reformatting of the judicial system in Kherson region, where the occupiers are merging or liquidating courts due to a lack of staff and the inability to ensure the normal functioning of these occupation courts.

The Zakhariv District Court of Odesa Region sentenced a military officer to seven years in prison for smuggling people across the state border of Ukraine.

As stated in the court' s verdict, the soldier found a man who wanted to leave the country and offered to help him in exchange for 2 thousand US dollars.

In May, the trafficker received $600 from the client, and then he was detained. The accused, interrogated in court, pleaded guilty in full, repented, and noted that he had been in the military since 2023, but in October 2024, due to a misunderstanding with his commander, he left the military unit without permission and went home. Around May 2025, at the request of his brother, he met with a man who said he wanted to cross the state border of Ukraine.

The soldier said that he could help him in exchange for a monetary reward. After receiving $300 from the client, the convict later called him around the end of May 2025 and told him that the departure was scheduled for June 1 and he needed to be ready. On June 1, they met and went to the Usatove railway station together. From there, they traveled to Zatyshshia station in Rozdilnia district of Odesa region. After arriving at Zatyshshya station, they took a taxi to the village of Zakharivka, where the client paid another $300. Then they and the taxi went to the village of Kozatske, where the soldier was detained.

Катерина Глушко