04 February 2025

The Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol Convicts 5th Unit Commander of “Crimean Self-Defense” for High Treason

In absentia, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol sentenced the commander of the 5th unit of the illegal armed group “Crimean Self-Defense” to 13 years in prison. The man was found guilty of committing high treason, participating in armed groups not provided for by law, attacking enterprises, institutions, and organizations, and encroaching on Ukraine’s territorial integrity and inviolability.

The court confirmed that in February 2014, the Ukrainian citizen joined the illegal armed group “Crimean Self-Defense,” an organization created and controlled by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and was appointed commander of the 5th unit. Together with his subordinates, he carried out tasks assigned by the Russian invaders, including the seizure of civilian infrastructure on the peninsula, the organization of illegal checkpoints, and the seizure of administrative buildings in Simferopol.

On February 26, 2014, the armed commander and his unit 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. Subsequently, acting on the order of the Russian Armed Forces, he ordered his “fighters” to take up positions around the administrative building and the surrounding area to force the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea to convene an extraordinary session to hold a “referendum” on the “independence of the peninsula.”

In addition, in March 2014, the defendant organized security and facilitated the illegal “referendum” on the “peninsula incorporation” into the Russian Federation, as well as coerced residents to participate in the alleged “voting.”

Recording damages, crimes, and convictions of war criminals in the occupied territory, in particular in Crimea, is one of Ukraine’s critical tasks, as it will help bring Russia to justice at the international level.