Ukraine's court issues first sentence for deportation from occupied Crimea

Darnytsia District Court in Kyiv sentenced in absentia a judge involved in the deportation of a Crimean citizen from the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimean Peninsula to 10 years in prison.

Source: Prosecutor's office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, UP sources

Quote: "After the occupation of the peninsula, the 'judge' transferred to the service of illegally created judicial bodies and assumed the leadership post of 'chairman of Armiansk City Court of the Republic of Crimea'. The convict took a direct part in the implementation of the criminal policy of the occupying state, aimed at changing the population's demographic composition in Crimea.

The 'judge' reliably knew that since 2014, residents of Crimea have the status of persons under the protection of international humanitarian law. Contrary to this, she decided to expel a citizen of Ukraine from the territory of the temporarily occupied peninsula."

Details: The judge was found guilty of violating the laws and customs of war (Art. 438.1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The prosecutor's office reported that its decision was motivated by the alleged lack of permit documents and non-observance of the "rules of staying on the territory of the Russian Federation".

"However, no additional permits of the occupation administration of the Russian Federation in Crimea for the residence of citizens of Ukraine on the temporarily occupied territory of the peninsula are provided for under national legislation," the prosecutor's office reported.

Ihor Ponochovnyi, Head of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, said that this is the first sentence in Ukraine for the deportation of the civilian population from the occupied peninsula.

Currently, the courts are considering three more indictments on similar crimes.

According to UP sources, the sentenced judge is Larysa Lykhachova.

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