Two judges in occupied Crimea were sentenced to 14 and 15 years

Two Ukrainian citizens who worked in the occupation judicial system of Crimea and Sevastopol were sentenced to 14 and 15 years in prison, with confiscation of their property.

This was reported by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol.

The cases were heard in special in absentia proceedings, meaning without the defendants present. They were found guilty of collaboration under Part 7 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Prosecutors proved that between 2022 and 2024, the women voluntarily took positions in pseudo-judicial institutions operating in occupied Crimea.

One of them was appointed by a decree of the Russian president as a so-called “judge of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea,” and the other as a “judge of the Leninsky District Court of Sevastopol.”

According to the prosecutor’s office, they continue to participate in the adjudication of cases and issue rulings on behalf of the aggressor state, thereby ensuring the functioning of the occupying judicial system on the peninsula.

In addition to imprisonment and confiscation of property, those sentenced to 15 years were barred from holding positions related to the administration of justice.

As reported by Suspilne, the individuals in question are Marina Kolotsei and Olesia Babaryka.

According to information from open sources, Marina Kolotseyworksat the occupying “Supreme Court of Crimea.”

Olesya Babarykaworks at a “court” in Sevastopol. Ukraine has imposed sanctions against her. Prior to Russia’s occupation of Crimea, she was on the reserve list for the position of judge in Ukraine; however, after 2014, she began collaborating with the Russian occupation authorities and built a career in the illegal “judicial bodies” of occupied Sevastopol, She actively participates in the public activities of the occupation administration, in particular by conducting propaganda events at local schools in Sevastopol.

Recently, two judges from Crimea were sentenced in absentia in Ukraine to 13 years in prison for treason —both had joined the Russian Federation’s occupying authorities after the occupation of the peninsula.

Previously,Nadiya Sobeshchanska,an occupation judge from Crimeawhobetrayed her oath and sided with the Russian occupiers,was sentenced to 11 years in prison.She was found guilty of treason.

Андрій Колісніченко