Human rights activists expose six Kremlin judges involved in repressions in Crimea

While Crimean residents were imprisoned in trumped-up cases, Russian judges were vacationing in the Maldives, Dubai and Cuba. Human rights activists have made public the names of judges who became part of the Russian repressive machine after the occupation of the peninsula.

The Zmina Human Rights Center and the KibOrg team identified six judges involved in the illegal sentencing of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars in the occupied Crimea. These are Denis Didenko, Natalia Kulinska, Maria Domnikova, Margarita Kotova, Igor Kostin and Denis Galkin.

According to human rights activists, after the occupation of Crimea, these judges became part of Russia's repressive system that persecutes Crimean Tatars, journalists, civil society activists and other Ukrainians.

While Ukrainian political prisoners were sentenced to decades in colonies on trumped-up cases, the judges of the occupation system were flying to the Maldives, Cuba, Cyprus, and Dubai. Some were photographed at billiard tournaments "for the day of victory," while others bought Harley-Davidsons, apartments in Moscow and dachas near Rostov, while simultaneously stamping out sentences.

After the occupation of Crimea, some Ukrainian judges not only remained working for the Russian Federation, but made a career out of repression. Denis Didenko, who worked in the Kyiv District Court of Simferopol until 2014, quickly became the deputy head of the occupation court and one of the main faces of political persecution on the peninsula. It was he who continued to arrest Crimean Tatar activists in the February 26 case, authorized the detention of journalists, and regularly sent Ukrainians to prison. But even after being suspected of treason and the case being referred to court in 2021, Didenko quietly flew to the Maldives for a vacation.

His official income has remained almost unchanged for years - more than two million rubles annually. At the same time, the judge himself appeared in photos from billiard tournaments and social events of the "elite" occupation after passing regular sentences on Crimean Tatars. Even after the EU sanctions and the Ukrainian court's verdict for treason, he continued to arrest political prisoners in Crimea.

Another former Ukrainian judge, Natalia Kulinska, built her career on the case of journalist Iryna Danilovych. It was Kulinska who actually ignored the defense's testimony and sent Danilovich to a penal colony for seven years in a trumped-up case of explosives. After that, the judge was promoted to the occupied Supreme Court of Crimea, where she has already sentenced even teenagers, including a 16-year-old boy for "high treason."

Maria Domnikova, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison in Ukraine, was also involved in propaganda among young people in parallel with repression. She fined Crimean Tatars for single pickets and arrested journalists near courts, and in her free time lectured schoolchildren about "independence from parents," drugs, and juvenile prisons. Despite her rather modest official assets - an apartment on the outskirts of Simferopol and a used car - in 2022, the judge took a vacation in Cuba.

Judges who hand down sentences to Ukrainians also enjoy a luxurious life. Ihor Kostin, a judge of the Southern District Military Court of Rostov-on-Don, has spent several years vacationing in Goa, Crete, Dubai, Turkey, Austria, Israel, Cyprus, and Egypt's Hurghada. It was he who considered dozens of cases of Crimean Tatars and journalists, sentencing them to 10-15 years in prison for alleged involvement in Hizbut-Tahrir.

In March 2023, Kostin flew to Istanbul, in April - to Dubai, and a few months later he was subject to Ukrainian sanctions. His salary was about 275 thousand rubles per month, which allowed him to travel abroad regularly even after the outbreak of a full-scale war.

The lifestyle of Russian judge Denis Galkin is no less revealing. Before he took on the judge's robe, he worked as an investigator, and after 2014, he became one of those who sent Crimean Tatars to prison for decades. Over the course of several years, Galkin bought Harley-Davidson motorcycles, an apartment in Moscow, and a dacha near Rostov. At the same time, he lectured students about the "fight against terrorism," although he himself was passing politically motivated sentences on Ukrainians.

A special place in this system is occupied by Lefortovo court judge Margarita Kotova, one of the judges closest to the Russian special services. It was she who extended the arrests of Oleh Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko, and later considered the cases of Roman Sushchenko and Ivan Yatskin. Her name has been on the lists of human rights defenders and international sanctions for years, but the judge herself continues to work in a system that is considered one of the main instruments of political repression.

Also in May, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called on Russia to release illegally detained Ukrainian journalists. According to the Ukrainian side, Russia is waging a systematic campaign against journalists, from physical attacks to information manipulation, in an attempt to cover up its own crimes.

Анна Бальчінос