27 December 2024
Occupiers Sentenced Ukrainian Activist Oksana Senedzhuk to 15 Years in Prison on Charges of “High Treason”
On December 26, 2024, the so-called “Sevastopol City Court” unlawfully sentenced Ukrainian activist Oksana Senedzhuk from Sevastopol to 15 years of imprisonment in a general-regime colony, an additional one-year restriction of freedom, and a fine of 200,000 rubles. She was accused of alleged “high treason” under Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Oksana Senedzhuk, a 58-year-old philologist by education, worked at the Sevastopol City State Administration before the occupation and had received commendations for her professional work before 2014. She actively participated in the Euromaidan protests and openly expressed her pro-Ukrainian stance.
According to her relatives, the activist’s persecution began in 2022 due to her outspoken statements against the war. She was repeatedly summoned for interrogations. On August 14, 2024, her house in Sevastopol was unlawfully searched by FSB officers. Following her arrest, she was transferred to a temporary detention center and later to Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 1 in Simferopol. On August 15, the “Leninsky District Court” of Sevastopol unlawfully ruled to place Senedzhuk in custody.
According to the occupation investigation materials, Oksana Senedzhuk allegedly collaborated with the intelligence services. The occupiers’ “prosecution” claims that she allegedly “provided information about the deployment of Russian Black Sea Fleet vessels to the Ukrainian side, following the instructions of a representative of Ukrainian intelligence,” with whom she reportedly maintained contact since 2006.
The Crimean Human Rights Group describes this prosecution as politically motivated, emphasizing that the charges against Oksana Senedzhuk are yet another example of repressive measures by the occupation administration against Ukrainian citizens for their position.
This sentence is part of a systematic campaign of persecution and intimidation targeting pro-Ukrainian activists in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea.