30 December 2024
Occupiers Illegally Sentenced Crimean Resident Pavlo Levchenko to 22 Years in Prison on Charges of “Terrorist Acts” and “High Treason”
On December 24, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don announced a verdict against Pavlo Levchenko, a resident of temporarily occupied Crimea, unlawfully accusing him of alleged “terrorist acts” and “high treason.” During a closed hearing, the court sentenced him to an illegal 22-year prison term, with the first five years to be served in prison and the remainder in a high-security penal colony. In addition, Levchenko was subjected to an illegitimate fine of one million rubles.
The occupiers allege that in April 2022, while in Zaporizhzhia, Pavlo Levchenko contacted an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and expressed a willingness to cooperate confidentially. According to the version presented by the occupying administration, Levchenko “acquired skills in manufacturing explosive devices” and, in October 2022, moved to Crimea for permanent residence, where he allegedly began testing these devices. The occupiers further claim that on June 11 and June 27, 2023, Pavlo Levchenko “carried out two explosions on railway tracks in the Feodosiia district during the passage of freight trains, allegedly using explosives obtained from a cache in the Melitopol district of the Zaporizhzhia region.”
The occupation administration accuses Levchenko of planning further acts of sabotage, including the destruction of a fuel depot and damage to freight trains in various districts of Crimea, such as Simferopol, Feodosiia, and several settlements in the Dzhankoi and Bakhchysarai districts.
The so-called “court” also charged Levchenko with undergoing training in firearms handling, visual surveillance, counter-surveillance techniques, and altering appearance, which, according to the occupiers, he allegedly received from Ukrainian intelligence. The accusations further state that Levchenko acquired information about routes into Russia and the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. Among the charges leveled against him was opposition to Russia’s war against Ukraine and a desire to end it by any available means.
This case represents yet another example of politically motivated persecution of Ukrainian citizens in temporarily occupied territory. Ukraine calls on the international community to condemn the unlawful actions of the occupation administration and increase pressure on Russia to end repressive practices and secure the release of unlawfully detained individuals.