Traitor from Kherson deported convicts to Russian prisons

The Kherson collaborator organized the forced transportation of convicts from the region to prisons in Russia. He faces up to 12 years in prison for his actions against Ukrainian citizens.

This was reported by the press service of the National Police in Kherson region.

The offender is a 31-year-old resident of the regional center. During the occupation of Kherson, in cooperation with Russian troops, he organized the forced transfer of prisoners to the temporarily occupied territories and to Russia. Investigators have now served the man a notice of suspicion. He faces up to 12 years in prison.

According to Ihor Demianiuk, Head of the Crime Investigation Department of the Kherson Police, law enforcement officers found that in the spring of 2022, the occupiers in Kherson created the so-called Department of the Penitentiary Service in Kherson Region, which controlled all the seized institutions. In May of the same year, a 31-year-old local resident was appointed to the position of senior operational officer on duty of the organizational and analytical department in this pseudo-institution.

The pre-trial investigation revealed that from October to November 2022, the suspect personally controlled the movement of prisoners in the building of the "Northern Correctional Colony" seized by the occupiers. He announced the lists of convicts in the cells, forced them to go out into the yard, and monitored the loading of people into special vehicles for transportation to the occupied territories.

Under the direct supervision of the perpetrator, his subordinates, together with the Russian military, forcibly transferred more than 1,500 convicts from Kherson. All of them were first sent to penitentiary institutions in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and later - to Krasnodar region, Volgograd and Rostov regions of Russia.

The suspect's actions were classified under Part 2 of Art. 28 and Part 1 of Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (War Crimes) - violation of the laws and customs of war committed by prior conspiracy with other persons. The defendant was served a notice of suspicion in absentia, the pre-trial investigation is ongoing. He faces 8 to 12 years in prison.

Also, the former deputy and head of the department of Holoprystan colony No. 7 was convicted of organizing the forced deportation of Ukrainian citizens from Kherson region. In September 2022, the 38-year-old man agreed to cooperate with the occupiers, headed the colony and helped to illegally transport more than 1700 convicts.

Анна Бальчінос