The sentence against the head of the occupation-era benefits office in Kherson was increased

The Court of Appeals upheld the sentence of a government official from the Kherson region who worked for the enemy in the “Department of Labor and Social Policy” during the occupation. The court upheld the six-year prison sentence and a 10-year ban on working in government agencies, but additionally ordered the confiscation of part of her property and stripped her of her civil service rank.

The Kherson Court of Appeals handed down the ruling. 

According to the case file, prior to the occupation, the woman was the head of the document processing section at the Department of Labor and Social Protection in the Dnipro District of Kherson. No later than August 2022, she became the “head of the benefits department” in the occupation-controlled Department of Labor and Social Policy of Kherson. She held this position until November 2022.

The department calculated social benefits in accordance with Russian legislation. The defendant managed its operations, oversaw the allocation of benefits, and verified documents for the calculation of pensions and benefits. She received her salary in rubles. In the payroll record for July 2022, she signed off on over 115,000 rubles.

In its ruling, the court relied on witness testimony, including that of former colleagues. One of them stated that the woman had four subordinates, a private office, and a secretary. Another testified that the supervisor gave instructions and reviewed documents. A former colleague also reported that the defendant had offered her a job in a new department. This was confirmed by Telegram correspondence from July 2022.

During a search of the convicted woman’s laptop, a department report for September 5–9, 2022, was found. It mentioned 1,800 processed applications from residents of Kherson and 124 from residents of the Mykolaiv region. In addition, documentation was prepared for the disbursement of benefits totaling over 31 million rubles. A handwriting analysis confirmed that the signature on another report dated September 7, 2022, was made by the convicted woman. The evidence also included a job description, lists of employees, orders, and an extract from the registry showing that the agency was registered on August 5, 2022, as well as eight photo identification protocols.

The woman did not admit her guilt. In court, she stated that she worked to make ends meet, performed the same job as before, and had no subordinates. At the same time, she confirmed that no pressure was exerted on her.

The defense attorney requested that the verdict be overturned and the case dismissed. He insisted that the witnesses’ statements in the verdict did not match their testimony in court. He also claimed that the photo identification was conducted with procedural violations and that there was insufficient evidence of her position. According to him, documents in Russian were inadmissible. 

The appellate court rejected all of the defense’s arguments. It found that the woman acted voluntarily, had a choice, and that the witnesses’ testimony corresponded to the court transcript. The law permits photo identification. The court also ruled that the Russian-language evidence did not violate the requirements of criminal procedure law, since the inspection reports were drawn up in Ukrainian.
 

Юлія Калабайда