Service under the Russian flag turned into imprisonment for a prisoner from Kherson

After the occupation of Kherson, the colony's inspector agreed to serve under the Russian flag and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The court recognized his actions as high treason, despite his attempts to justify himself by "working according to instructions".

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

According to the investigation, the convict worked as a junior inspector in the supervision and security department of the Northern Correctional Colony No. 90 in Kherson. After the seizure of the city in the summer of 2022, he voluntarily accepted the position of "deputy duty assistant to the head of the Northern Correctional Colony No. 90" in a structure subordinate to the Russian occupation administration.

In court, the man admitted that he continued to serve and received a salary, mostly in hryvnias, once in Russian rubles. He claimed that the laws of Ukraine were still in force on the territory of the institution, so he did not consider his activities to be criminal.

Witnesses - five colony employees - confirmed that the institution was operating under the Russian flag, and the staff was offered to join the occupiers without coercion. Some of their colleagues refused to cooperate and suffered no consequences.

The defense tried to prove that the convict acted within the guidelines of the Ministry of Justice for staff who found themselves in the occupied territory. However, the court emphasized that these instructions provide for criminal liability for voluntarily taking up positions in illegal law enforcement agencies. The defendant, in the court's opinion, had to leave the institution after the Russian Federation took control.

The court concluded that the service under the occupation administration, work in the "colony No. 90 created by the Russians" and the fact of raising the Russian flag over the institution constituted treason.

The man was sentenced to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property. He has already spent part of the term - 2.5 years - in a pre-trial detention center.

Also, the deputy head of the so-called "Northern Correctional Colony No. 90", which the occupiers created on the basis of a Ukrainian prison, was sentenced to 14 years in prison. In fact, he remained in the same position, but under the Russian administration.

After the liberation of Kherson by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the man did not have time to escape. In February 2023, he was detained. At the trial, he claimed that his cooperation with the occupiers was forced - under pressure, threats, beatings, and after his abduction.

Анна Бальчінос