Police investigators have completed a pre-trial investigation into the “chief penitentiary” of the occupied Kherson region
After the seizure of Kherson by the Russian military, the former head of one of the correctional institutions of the regional center agreed to cooperate with the occupying authorities and headed the penitentiary system in the temporarily occupied territory. Currently, the pre-trial investigation is completed and the indictment is directed to the court. The accused faces up to 12 years in prison.
The police established that in May 2022, the occupation authorities illegally formed the “Department of the Service of Execution of Penalties in the Kherson region”. The head of the institution was agreed by a 38-year-old from Kherson, who before the full-scale Russian invasion was the head of one of the correctional institutions in Kherson.
During the pre-trial investigation and documentation of the illegal activities of the attacker, the investigators learned that at the end of October 2022, the “chief penitentiary” of the occupied Kherson region gave the order in advance with the persons of the leadership of the occupation authorities, law enforcement agencies and armed forces of the Russian Federation on the implementation of actions that qualify as committing other violations of the laws and customs of war. Then, on the instructions of the defendant, more than 1700 convicts who were serving sentences in the institutions serving sentences in the Kherson region were deported and with the use of forced transfer to Russia and TOT AR Crimea. In this way, the requirements of a number of articles of the Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians during war were violated.
At the beginning of July this year, the investigators, in agreement with the regional prosecutor's office, were informed in absentia about the suspicion of committing the crime provided for in Part 2, Art. 28, Part 1 of Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. That is, in the commission, by a group of persons, of actions consisting in giving an order to commit other violations of the laws and customs of war, stipulated by international treaties, the consent to which is given by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
At the moment, the pre-trial investigation has been completed and the indictment is directed to the court. The accused faces punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 8 to 12 years.
National Police of Ukraine
