Three Kherson residents who helped Russians hold pseudo-referendum to be tried in Ukraine

Under the procedural supervision of the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office, indictments against three residents of the region on charges of collaboration were sent to court.

According to the Prosecutor's Office of Kherson region, in September 2022, the accused participated in the work of the so-called "election commissions" created by the occupation authorities to hold a pseudo-referendum on secession from Ukraine and the accession of the temporarily occupied territory of Kherson region to Russia.

Two of them, as members of the illegal polling station election commission, visited the houses of residents of Mykilske village, offered to vote and issued so-called "ballots". Another defendant performed similar actions on the territory of the Bekhtera community.

Earlier, three residents of Kherson region who helped the Russians to conduct an illegal referendum were sentenced to ten years in prison with the deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to the electoral process for fifteen years. The Kherson court also found a local resident guilty of collaborating with the occupiers during the pseudo-referendum in Kherson region. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property.

Before that, a resident of Kherson region, who was found guilty by the court of first instance of helping Russians to hold an illegal referendum, did not admit her guilt in court and tried to appeal the verdict in the appellate instance. However, in this case, the appellate court upheld the verdict and dismissed the appeal. The Kherson Court of Appeal also upheld the verdict of the Velyko Oleksandrivskyi District Court, which found Olena Kameneva, a resident of Kostyrka village of the Novoraysk village community of Beryslav district, guilty of collaboration.

Олеся Ланцман