Mass ‘treason’ trials and huge sentences for helping Ukraine in Russian-occupied Crimea

In the first eleven days of December alone, Russian-controlled occupation ‘courts’ have sentenced at least six residents of Crimea to massive terms of imprisonment.  All were accused of ‘state treason’, with Russia first making it impossible to live on occupied territory without Russian citizenship, then using such citizenship as a weapon against Crimean Tatars and other Ukrainians for alleged action in support of Ukraine.  Virtually nothing is known about any individual ‘trial’, however concern is warranted given the sheer number of them, and the fact that many copy, almost verbatim, the charges used against Ukrainian civilians who were first abducted, tortured and held incommunicado with no charges laid for up to two and a half years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

Lenur Ibragimov

It was reported on 9 December 2024 that the occupation ‘Crimean high court’ had sentenced Lenur Ibragimov from the Simferopol area to 15 years’ maximum-security imprisonment for so-called ‘state treason’ (Article 275 of Russia’s criminal code). 

Ibragimov was alleged to have, from December 2022 through March 2023, gathered and passed to representatives of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence via Messenger, information about the movement of a column of military technology along the Tavridra highway. He had also, it was claimed, passed on information about a military site under construction.

Since no sentences were reported on the ‘court’s’ site on 9 December, it seems likely that this was one of the two sentences passed on 6 December, either by presiding ‘judge’ Viktor Nikolaevich Sklyarov, or Sergei Nikolaevich Pogrebniak. If the latter, it looks as though he did not have an independent lawyer, and that there was, effectively, only one ‘hearing’ before the ‘court’ retired to prepare the verdict.   It is impossible to tell, since the names of the defendants are concealed, and the size of the sentences not given.  The sentence passed by Sklyarov was after several hearings, and the defendant did have a lawyer (whose name is also concealed.

Very little is known about the 33-year-old Ibragimov, however it is possible that he was one of fifteen Crimean Tatars who were detained on 11 October 2021 merely for gathering outside a ‘court’ in occupied Crimea to show solidarity with three Crimean Tatar political prisoners.  The three men: Rustem Emiruseinov; Arsen Akhairov and Eskender Abdulganiev had been sentenced to 17, 13 and 12 years, respectively, without any crime.  Lenur Musanovich Ibragimov was fined in October 2021 for a totally legal and peaceful attempt to show solidarity.  If this is the same person, it would not be the first time that the FSB initially brought administrative charges against a civic activist, and then concocted criminal charges, carrying a huge sentence.

Vladyslav Afanasiev

The occupation ‘prosecutor’ reported on 6 December that the same ‘Crimean high court’ had sentenced Vladyslav Afanasiev, a 30-year-old resident of Feodosia, to 15 years in a maximum-security prison colony, on the same ‘state treason’ charge.  Chillingly, one of the grounds cited for this charge was that Afanasiev had, in August 2022, transferred money to a fund in support of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. 

It was also claimed that, in March 2023, he had gathered, and passed on, via chat-bots controlled by Ukraine’s Defence Ministry, photographs and the geolocation of places where paratrooper and military boats are deployed in Feodosia.  In a phrase that is copy-pasted from one such indictment to another, it is claimed that the information could have been used by Ukraine to strike at Russian military targets, “that is, against the security of the country” [sic].

Yury Viunenko

Another 15-year sentence in a maximum-security prison colony was reported by RAPSI on 4 December, with this also handed down by the same occupation ‘Crimean high court’ against Yury Viunenko, a 45-year-old resident of Kerch.   It was asserted that he had, in September 2023, used a messenger service to send videos with the geolocation of places where Russian air defence systems are deployed in Kerch.  The same phrase about how the information could have been used is repeated here also. 

The charge in this case also was of ‘state treason’ under Article 275 of Russia’s criminal code.

Dmitry Pospelov

RAPSI cited Russia’s prosecutor general in reporting on 6 December that the occupation ‘Crimean high court’ had sentenced Dmitry Pospelov, a resident of the Leninsky raion in Crimea, to 13 years in a maximum-security prison colony for ‘state treason’.  Pospelov was described as being originally from the Krasnodar krai (in Russia), so it is possible that he is not a Ukrainian citizen. 

It is claimed that, back in 2017, he had met an officer of Ukraine’s Security Service [SBU] and agreed to work for them.  He had, purportedly, installed and serviced CCTV videos in hotels on the coast and had provided access to these videos to the SBU.  This was supposed to have enabled the SBU to observe roads by which Russian military technology could be transported.  He was also alleged to have passed on access to a database containing information about the Russian users of one of the Internet providers.

Anton Chorny

On 11 December 2024, the occupation ‘Sevastopol municipal court’ sentenced 48-year-old Anton Chorny to 13 years in a maximum-security prison colony and a fine of 300 thousand roubles.  The charge here too was of ‘state treason’ with it claimed that Chorny “had maintained confidential cooperation with a member of Ukraine’s State Border Service”.  He had, purportedly, “of his own initiative and on the instructions of this person from September 2023 to February 2024, in Yalta and Sevastopol, carried out visual observance and photographed sites and military technology of the Russian armed forces; gathered and passed on information about their deployment.”

The case was presented and sentence demanded by ‘prosecutor’ Andrei Shevtsov.

‘Resident of Yalta’

An unnamed ‘resident of Yalta’ was sentenced on (or before) 2 December to 14 years’ maximum-security prison colony under Article 275.  The sentence was passed by the Krasnodar regional court with it claimed that the man had observed the take off of an airborne early warning and control system near the airport in Sochi and had passed on information about the time and place of this launch to Ukraine’s SBU. It is acknowledged that the person had been motivated by their position on what Russia is euphemistically calling a ‘special military operation’, i.e. its war against Ukraine. 

RAPSI reports that the ‘trial’ was held behind closed doors.

In fact, all of the above, as well as the ever-mounting number of such ‘treason’ or ‘spying’ ‘trials’, are invariably held in secret.  It is probably for this reason that these sentences are being churned out at a terrifying rate against Ukrainians from occupied territory (as well as against Russians who have in some way demonstrated support for Ukraine or opposition to Russia’s war of aggression).  Very often the only difference is in whether Article 275 can be applied, generally because Russia has managed to foist its citizenship, or whether the person, likely held incommunicado for a long time, has only Ukrainian citizenship and is therefore charged merely with ‘spying’ (Article 276).

See also:  Russian FSB abduct Ukrainian from her mother’s funeral in occupied Crimea