The occupation court of Crimea sentenced a resident of Yalta to 18 years in absentia for "high treason"

The Supreme Court of Crimea, controlled by Russia, has sentenced a resident of Yalta to 18 years in prison in absentia for "high treason".

According to Krym.Realii, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office said that it was 56-year-old Vitaly Khomenko. However, the editorial office cannot confirm the identity of the convict, and he has not commented. So, according to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, the convict was granted Russian citizenship in 2014. And in the period from October 2020 to February 2021, while in Ukraine, Khomenko allegedly began to cooperate with the Security Service of Ukraine.

"On its instructions, the convict handed over previously collected information about Russian law enforcement officers who served in Crimea," the occupation agency was quoted as saying in the media.

According to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, from November 2022 to June 2024, Khomenko, as the commander of a separate mining and assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, took part in hostilities against the Russian army.

"The court, taking into account the opinion of the state prosecutor, sentenced Khomenko in absentia to 18 years in prison in a strict regime penal colony with further restriction of liberty for a period of 1 year and 10 months, as well as a fine of 3 million rubles," the verdict of the Russian-controlled court reads.

In total, since 2017, human rights activists have recorded more than 10,000 violations of fundamental human rights in the Russian-annexed Crimea, including 6,730 against members of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people. This practice extends to the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, where Russian forces are also trying to intimidate people.

According to the Presidential Mission in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, as of November 4, the occupiers illegally imprisoned 218 people on the peninsula, 132 of whom are Crimean Tatars. Of the total number, 43 are arrested (28 of them are Crimean Tatars), 151 are imprisoned (97 of them are Crimean Tatars), and 26 are without status (6 of them are Crimean Tatars).

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