Under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the commander of the 5th regiment of the illegal armed group “Self-Defense of Crimea” was sentenced in absentia to 13 years in prison. He was found guilty of high treason (Part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), participation in illegal armed groups that attacked enterprises and institutions (Part 4 of Article 260 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), and encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine (Part 2 of Article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Prosecutors proved that in February 2014, this citizen of Ukraine joined the IAF “Self-Defense of Crimea”, controlled by the Russian Armed Forces, where he took the position of “commander of the 5th regiment”. He carried out orders from the Russian military aimed at seizing civilian infrastructure in Crimea, setting up illegal checkpoints and seizing administrative buildings in Simferopol.
On February 26, 2014, carrying firearms, he and his company arrived at
the building of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, where a rally in support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine was taking place.
Following the instructions of the Russian Armed Forces, the convict ordered his subordinates to take positions around the administrative building in order to force the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of the AR of Crimea to convene an extraordinary session to discuss the referendum on the “independence” of the peninsula.
The report also states that in March 2014, he supervised the security and organization of an illegal “referendum” on Crimea’s accession to Russia, and called on local residents to “vote.”
For his “merits” to the occupiers, he was awarded medals “For the Defense of Crimea” and “For the Return of Crimea”.