Tuesday, 16 January ‘24

SBU Issued Suspicion Against Members of Russia’s Central Election Committee

Investigators from Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) reported in absentia the suspicion of encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine and assistance in waging an aggressive war to three representatives of Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC). Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova and members Pavel Andreev and Lyudmila Markinii are accused under Part 5 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 110, Part 5 of Article 27 and Part 2 of Article 437 of the criminal code.

According to the investigation, the suspects assisted Russia’s military and political leadership in waging an aggressive war against Ukraine and, in September 2022, organised and ensured an illegal referendum to annex the occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk to the Russian Federation. To legitimise the annexation, the accused organised illegal elections in these territories and in Crimea in September 2023.

Russian Soldiers Sentenced in Kyiv and Chernihiv Regions

On December 11, 2023, judges of the Borodyanka district court of the Kyiv region sentenced Anatoly Vozisov, a Russian military commander of a combat vehicle and deputy platoon commander, to ten years imprisonment in absentia. He was found guilty of violating the laws and customs of war for cruel treatment of the civilian population under Part 1 of Article 438 of the criminal code. Vozisov participated in the occupation of Lubyanka, a village in the Bucha district, detaining and threatening to kill three local residents. Calling them "Nazis" and "fascists", the 33-year-old interrogated them with sacks over their heads, beat them, stripped them and searched for tattoos, in the attempt of forcing them to confess they were part of Ukraine’s armed forces.

On December 11, 2023, the Chernihiv district court sentenced Eziz Akiniyazov, a Russian soldier from the 74th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade, to 12 years in prison in absentia. He was found guilty of violating the laws and customs of war and cruel treatment of the civilian population (Part 2, Article 28, Part 1, Article 438 of the criminal code). Together with accomplices, the 30-year-old abused and tortured a resident of Shestavytsia, a village in the Chernihiv region, in March 2022. Akiniyazov threatened the man with physical violence, put a machine gun to his temple and passed the blade of a knife across his face. 

Ukrainian Doctor Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Treason

On December 11, 2023, judges of the Zhovtnevii district court in Dnipro region sentenced Ukrainian citizen Valentina Chekhova to life imprisonment in absentia with confiscation of property. The 57-year-old doctor was found guilty of treason during war under Part 2 of Article 111 of the criminal code.

According to the investigation, in March 2022 during the battle for the control of the southern port city of Mariupol, Russian troops seized the regional intensive care hospital where at least seven Ukrainian servicemen with serious injuries were receiving medical care. The personnel had changed the Ukrainian soldiers into civilian clothes, destroyed their uniforms, documents and military ammunition. However, the accused ophthalmologist revealed their identity to the Russian troops and the seven Ukrainians were taken as captives. In return, Chekhova was appointed head of the ophthalmology department of the captured hospital.

A military nurse who was then in the hospital told the court that Chekhova pointed her finger at the Ukrainian soldiers dressed in civilian clothes. The witness was also captured but released during the exchange of female prisoners of war on October 17, 2022.