About cases of collaboration with the Russian occupying forces and of treason

By Willy Fautré, Human Rights Without Frontiers

HRWF (20.06.2022) – On 13 May, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Irina Venediktova declared that 5,360 cases of treason and collaboration had already been opened in Ukraine. More concrete cases of suspicions and indictments have been made public by the Prosecutor General of Ukraine in the first two weeks of June.

 

The suspects are Ukrainian informers sharing military information with the Russian occupying forces, active collaborators of the Russification process in the recently occupied territories, including mayors, local pro-Russian Ukrainians elected in city councils and even in the national parliament.

 

According to the Ministry of Justice, collaboration with the enemy in Ukraine is considered to be:

  • participation in hostilities on the side of the aggressor state,
  • active cooperation with the occupation authorities,
  • organization of elections in the temporarily occupied territories,
  • public denial of Russia’s armed aggression,
  • calls for the overthrow of the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

The law criminalizing collaborationism came into force in mid-March. It prescribes terms of up to 15 years and life imprisonment.

 

In Odessa region, the SBU exposed a pro-Russian Internet agitator

A supporter of Russian aggression, who publicly justified the armed invasion of Ukraine and supported the actions of the occupiers, was exposed by SBU officers in the Odessa region.

According to the department, a resident of the village of Velikodolinskoye, Odessa district, distributed materials in social networks banned in Ukraine that glorified the Russian invaders.

In his publications and posts, a supporter of Russia promoted the ideas of the “Russian world”, discredited the Armed Forces of Ukraine and openly supported Russia’s war on Ukraine.

After inspecting the propagandist’s mobile phone and computer, law enforcement officers found materials that contained evidence of his illegal activities.

He was informed of suspicion of committing a crime under Part 2 of Art. 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (justification, recognition of lawful or denial of armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Source: Dumskaya (10 June).

 

A border guard from the Rivne region informing Russia about officers of the Ukrainian National Guard is suspected of treason

A border guard from the Rivne region is suspected of transmitting information to the Russian Federation about high-ranking officers of the National Guard of Ukraine for their liquidation.

According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, the suspect, working in the recruitment group of the border detachment of the State Border Service of Ukraine, was recruited and cooperated with a reserve officer of the Armed Forces of the occupying state.

He collected and transmitted personal information about the selection of candidates for military service in the border detachment. In 2020-2021, the border guard gave another ex-military occupier country information about high-ranking officers of the National Guard of Ukraine, according to the investigation – for their further elimination.

The defendant was informed of suspicion of high treason (Part 1 of Art. 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Source: Dumskaya (7 June)

 

The head of the occupation administration of Skadovsk and his deputy charged with collaborationism

A Russian citizen who has been living in Skadovsk for a long time has been heading the occupation district administration since the occupation of the city by Russian troops.

He was informed of suspicion of encroaching on the territorial integrity of Ukraine and collaborationism (Part 3 of Art. 110, Part 5 of Art. 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

This is reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

A citizen of Ukraine, who voluntarily took the post of First Deputy of the Occupation District Administration of Skadovsk, is also charged with collaborationism with the Russian occupation forces.

According to the investigation, the suspects actively support the occupation authorities and push local residents to cooperate with the occupying forces. Source: Dumskaya (17 June).

 

The deputy of the Mariupol City Council charged with treason

Law enforcement officers reported suspicion to a deputy of the Mariupol City Council, who cooperated with the Russian invaders on her own initiative.

According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, she is charged with treason committed under martial law (Part 2 of Art. 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

From February 24, 2022, the deputy of the City Council freely took the initiative to cooperate with the troops of the Russian Federation to ensure the activities of the occupation “administration” of the aggressor state on the territory of Mariupol, according to the investigation.

Together with the Russian management forces of the city and a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, she distributed literature of the Ministry of Education of the aggressor country in schools in order to promote the Russian ideology among the local population.

“Having taken the pseudo-position of the “head of the Department of Culture of the Mariupol City Administration”, the suspect organizes cultural events in order to form an opinion among the population and the world community about the legality of the activities of the so-called “DPR,” the Office of the Prosecutor General notes. Source: Dumskaya (10 June)

 

A teacher from Zhytomyr will be tried for collaborationism

A Ukrainian language teacher of one of Zhytomyr’s schools will appear in court on charges of collaborationism (Part 1 of Art. 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

According to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, the investigation established that during a meeting of the association of Ukrainian language teachers, the accused convinced her colleagues that there was not a war in Ukraine, but a “special operation” of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, which provide assistance to the “brotherly” people.

The accused also claimed that the Ukrainian media misinform the population about the consequences of the occupation in cities and villages. In particular, calling the shootings of civilians in Bucha staged plots.

The indictment against the teacher has been brought to court. Source: Dumskaya (17 June).

 

The former head of the Kherson Regional State Administration of Yanukovych’s time is suspected of high treason

The former head of the Kherson regional administration is suspected of high treason.

“Under the procedural leadership of the Kherson Regional Prosecutor’s Office, the ex-chairman of the Kherson Regional State Administration, who held a position from 2010 to 2014, was informed of suspicion of high treason (Part 2 of Art. 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine),” the message of the Office of the Prosecutor General reads.

The investigation found out that he transferred goods, fuel and building materials to the Russian occupiers. He also placed enemy equipment on the territory of the enterprise under his control.

The Office of the Prosecutor General does not specify the name of the defendant, but it is known that from June 2010 to March 2014 the region was headed by Nikolai Kostyak.

Pre-trial investigation of criminal proceedings is carried out by the investigative Departments of the SBU in Kherson region. Source: Dumskaya (7 June)

 

Are there traitors in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church?

 

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church/ Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) is often accused of collaboration with the enemy in Ukraine. What is the reality?

On 30 May 2022, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy held special hearings at which MPs discussed threats to national security posed by religious organizations “having governing centres on the territory of the aggressor state”. The Rada’s website reported that “the event was attended by MPs of Ukraine, representatives of ministries and departments, members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, representatives of regional state (military) administrations, regional, city, district, village and town councils, public and religious organizations, academic institutions, experts in the field of freedom of conscience, and the public”.

In its report, the Rada Committee said: “As of today the National Police of Ukraine have registered five criminal proceedings against religious collaborators, of which only one case was sent to court – against a priest on the fact of public denial of military aggression against Ukraine, public calls to support decisions and actions of Russia under Part 1 Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (“High treason”).”

The UOC-MP complains that the authors of bills aiming at banning their Church cite fakes as evidence of such collaboration. In particular, MP Natalia Pipa cited two such false reports about Archpriest Mikhail Pavlushenko and Hieromonk Onufry in the explanatory note to her bill #7213 for the ban of the UOC-MP.

The detention of Archpriest Mikhail Pavlushenko was in fact a misunderstanding. A downed Russian helicopter crashed right behind his house near Gostomel, and he simply went out to find out if his help was needed. Having sorted out the situation, law enforcement officers let the priest go home without bringing any charges.

 

Second, the incident with the “priest Onufriy” on March 16 was commented by the Kyiv Metropolis as follows: “There is no Hieromonk Onufriy, who was born Sergey Tarasov, in the staff of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”

 

Some reports on the collaborative activities of priests turn out to be skillfully made fakes, says the Union Orthodox Journalists (UOJ) in an article posted on its website: “For example, Father Viktor Talko of Borodianka, the rector of the Archangel Michael Church, was slandered in almost every media outlet, but it later turned out that far from being a collaborator, he helped the residents of Borodianka in many ways: he sheltered them in the church, fed them, helped them evacuate and held the last rites over fallen Ukrainian soldiers and civilians.”

 

After the liberation of Borodianka, the priest was taken to the SBU and released after six days of interrogation without bringing any charge.

The UOC-MP is said to have more than a hundred bishops, 255 monasteries, dozens of educational institutions, and more than 12,000 communities throughout Ukraine. Finally, more than 12.500 thousand priests.

“An elementary calculation shows that 5 priests out of 12 500 is 0.04% of the total number and if we consider that only one cleric of the UOC was brought to court, the percentage becomes negligible, the UOJ concludes.

Photo: A teacher being tried for denying Russian aggression and calling the war crimes in Bucha Ukrainian propaganda. Source