The head of the occupied Kherson city administration received a life sentence

Khadzhybeyskyi District Court of Odesa passed a verdict in absentia against Oleksandr Kobets, who headed the occupation administration of Kherson. He was found guilty of committing crimes under articles on high treason and collaboration.

This is known from the court verdict.

According to the investigation, in March 2022, he left Ukraine for Slovakia, but in early April he returned to the enemy-held part of the Kherson region, using the administrative border with the occupied Crimea. There, he entered into a sinister conspiracy with representatives of the Russian armed forces, including the occupation commander of the region, to agree on the terms of his ''leadership'' of the city under the cover of Russian bayonets.

The main pressure was exerted on the legitimate self-government bodies and employees of municipal institutions, who were forced to obey the new ''authorities. The process of seizing power took the form of direct military intervention: On April 25, 2022, armed Russian special forces seized the building of the Kherson City Council, announcing to the staff that the administration had come under Russian control, and the next day Kobets was officially introduced as the head of the occupation administration.

In this position, he took over the coordination of the city's key life-support enterprises and city hall departments, while forcing local entrepreneurs to comply with Russian trade laws. In addition, under his signature, the property of the Kherson community, including real estate and the vehicle fleet of the Kherson Municipal Transport Service, was actually stolen and transferred to the occupation structures.

The court verdict specifically emphasizes that all of Kobets' orders were implemented only through the forced support of the Russian army and intimidation of residents who were forced to recognize his authority. The defendant's guilt was unequivocally proved by the testimony of real officials and employees of the city council, who described the atmosphere in the seized building, where machine gunners in Russian uniforms were on duty on every floor.

Since the defendant himself is in hiding, his lawyer stated that there was no communication with her client and that it was impossible to hear his position. As a result, the Khadzhybeyskyi court of Odesa sentenced Kobets to life imprisonment with full confiscation of property and deprivation of his military rank of 'colonel' for the combination of crimes - high treason and collaboration.

Катерина Глушко