The organizer of the illegal vote in the Kherson region was sentenced to eight years in prison

A native of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea was sentenced to 8 years in prison for participating in the organization of the 2022 pseudo-referendum. She voluntarily joined the “polling station election commission” in the town of Dnipriany, Kakhovka District, Kherson Region.

This is stated in the verdict<span><span><span><span><span><span>of the Novovorontsov District Court of Kherson Oblast.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>The defendant distributed ballots, campaigned among local residents, explained the voting </span></span></span></span></span></span>procedure<span><span><span><span><span><span>, and gave interviews in support of the “referendum.”</span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>One piece of evidence of her guilt was a Telegram video from February 2023, in which she speaks emotionally about “returning to Russia” and how the last eight years have been simply unbearable. She specifically emphasizes that “no one is being forced at gunpoint,” and that people are voting voluntarily. She also notes that the soldiers are “very good people.” </span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>Witnesses described the woman’s involvement in the commission’s work. They stated that the defendant went from house to house with a portable ballot box, accompanied by armed Russian soldiers.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>The case files regarding other “members of the precinct commission” in Dnipryany and individuals from the so-called “Kherson Oblast Election Commission” have been separated into a separate criminal proceeding.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

Earlier, the court found a resident of the Kherson region—who served as a deputy of the occupying “council”fromthe “Communist Party of the Russian Federation”(KPRF) in Chaplynka—guilty of collaboration. He was sentenced to nine years in prison with confiscation of property. 

In court, prosecutors proved that in July 2023, the defendant joined the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, whose activities are banned in Ukraine. In September 2023, he participated in the conduct of illegal “elections” to the so-called Council of Deputies of the Chaplynka Municipal District on behalf of this political party and received a “deputy’s mandate.” 

Юлія Калабайда