Russia’s notorious Southern District Military Court has sentenced Tetiana Klochko, a Ukrainian abducted from occupied Enerhodar, to 12 years’ imprisonment. An invading power which seized control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, taking its staff and, effectively, all of Ukraine, hostage claimed that the Ukrainian had planned a ‘terrorist attack’ on one of the plant’s heads. Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov commented that it is the Russians who carry out such terrorist acts on a daily basis, hunting down residents of Enerhodar with pro-Ukrainian views, torturing them and then churning out ‘sentences’ on fabricated charges.
The prosecution claimed that Tetiana Klochko had “joined a terrorist organization” in 2023 and had expressed willingness to take part in planning and implementing “terrorist acts on the territory of Zaporizhzhia oblast.” She was alleged to have, on the instructions of an official of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence [HUR], received a homemade explosive device which she kept in her home. Then, purportedly, in April 2023, she had placed this explosive device in the post box of an apartment in Enerhodar, with the aim being to kill a head of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The crime had, supposedly, been thwarted by neighbours who had discovered the explosive device which was then defused by occupation ‘enforcement officers’.
Klochko was charged under several articles of Russia’s criminal code: ‘participation in a terrorist organization’ (Article 205.4 § 2); ‘attempted terrorist act’ (Articles 30 § 3 and 205.3b); ‘unlawful purchase, possession, etc. of explosive devices and substances, carried out by an organized group’ (Article 222.1 § 4).
The prosecution was, supposedly, ‘examined’ under special procedure due to the defendant having made a deal on cooperation. If this was the case, Klochko was almost certainly deceived as the sentence passed was shocking: 12 years in a medium-security prison colony and a huge 500 thousand rouble fine. It is likely that Klochko (or her family) will be unable to pay such a fine with this then making it impossible to send her money in order to buy absolute essentials which are not provided in the appalling conditions of Russian penal institutions.
There were a number of hearings which is rather unusual for a ‘trial’ in which the defendant has agreed to plead guilty, however no more information is currently available. The sentence was handed down on 8 August 2024 by ‘judge’ Pavel Yurievich Gubarev.
Tetiana Klochko is described as a citizen of Ukraine, which suggests that she had resisted the considerable coercion and blackmail that Russia is using on occupied territory to force residents to accept Russian citizenship. That alone might prompt Russia’s FSB to place Klochko under their scrutiny.
As mentioned, Russia, as an occupying power, is prohibited by international law from applying its legislation on occupied parts of Ukraine and from forcibly moving Ukrainians to Russian territory. It is not known how long Klochko was held incommunicado before Russia admitted to her being in custody, nor whether she had any access to an independent lawyer before she agreed to ‘cooperate’ with the prosecution. In the vast majority of cases, involving both men and women, torture is used to extract ‘confessions’, and heavy pressure brought to bear to prevent the person facing charges from ever having access to independent legal aid. Another such circumstances, there would seem no grounds at all for believing the charges against Tetiana Klochko, nor any that her fundamental rights regarding a fair trial were ensured in this supposed ‘trial’.
See also:
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant engineer held and tortured by Russian invaders for over a year
