Nine kidnapped Kherson residents are on trial in Russia for allegedly attempting to murder occupation officials of Kherson region

The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don is trying nine Kherson residents abducted in 2022, who are accused of participating in a "terrorist group" and"attempted murder" of the leadership of the occupation administration of Kherson region.

This is reported by the Center for Investigative Journalism with reference to propaganda media that published a report from the courtroom.

This is the case of Kostiantyn Reznik, SerhiyKabakov, Yuriy Tavozhnyansky, Oleh Bohdanov, Serhiy Ofitserov, Denys Lyalka, Serhiy Heidt, Yuriy Kayov, and Serhiy Kovalsky. They are accused of attempting to assassinate the heads of the occupation administration of the Kherson region, namely Volodymyr Saldo, Vitaliy Bulyuk, Ihor Semenchev and the later liquidated Oleksiy Kovalev and Kyrylo Stremousov. The Kherson residents do not admit their guilt and complain of torture in the basement.

Kovalsky and Lyalko stated in court that they were Ukrainian soldiers, which means they are combatants, so all "charges" should be dropped. The Russian court did not take their words into account.

The case of the Kherson men has been pending in a Russian court since January 2024. They face life imprisonment.

According to propaganda media reports from the courtroom, a witness in the case has already taken the stand. He is a collaborator and brother of former MP Oleksiy Kovalev, Yuriy Kovalev. He claims that his brother's jet ski, which he used to get from the left bank to work in Kherson after the destruction of the Antonivsky Bridge, was mined by Konstantin Reznik and Yuri Kayov. They allegedly worked for Kovalev and knew where his garage was.

It is worth adding that Kaiov and Reznik had already been imprisoned by the occupiers at the time of the jet ski"mining". In addition, in the summer of 2022, due to numerous Russian checkpoints and problems with transportation between the right and left banks of the Kherson region, Kaiov could no longer physically reach the garage.

Reznik claims that he and Yuriy Kovalev constantly had conflicts over money for the work they had done. This, in his opinion, was the reason for his imprisonment.