Huge sentences and videoed ‘repentance’ in Russia’s mounting terror in occupied Zaporizhzhia oblast
Russia’s state-controlled TASS news agency has reported 14-year sentences against two Ukrainian women abducted from their homes in occupied Enerhodar. Since the information in one case was not new, it seems likely that the aim of the report was to show distressing videos in which both women have been forced, whether through tortures or threats, to ‘express repentance’ for having donated money to Ukraine’s Armed Forces. In one woman’s case, the donations were, moreover, to the military unit in which her son is serving. This was treated by the Russian invaders illegally occupying the women’s Ukrainian city as ‘treason’.
The sentences against Lilia Kachariova and S.N. Dovhopola were announced as though only just passed, although that against Lilia Kachariova was first reported a full week earlier, on 15 April. Enerhodar’s Mayor Dmytro Orlov may well have learned of
There is, in fact, nothing to stop Russia reporting such sentences when it chooses, since there are no independent sources of information about the so-called ‘trials’ which would, in any case, be held behind closed doors. All that is ever reported, post-fact, about sentences allegedly passed by the occupation ‘Zaporizhzhia regional court’ comes from the Russian prosecutor or, occasionally, Investigative Committee. It is telling that in most such cases where the occupation ‘Zaporizhzhia regional court’ is claimed to have passed sentence, the report is posted by the occupation ‘Crimean prosecutor’. Both prosecutions are, moreover, supposed to have been led by the Russian-installed ‘Crimean deputy prosecutor’ Pavel Kuchrivenko. Even if there is a fake ‘Zaporizhzhia regional court’, we have no way of knowing who passed such monstrous ‘sentences’; whether the defendants had independent lawyers and whether the alleged ‘trials’ lasted more than the hearing needed to announce sentence.
The Russian reports from 22 April suggested that the sentences had been passed on 21 April, and that the charges were of ‘state treason’ under Article 275 of Russia’s criminal code. The women are both described only as residents of Enerhodar, though it is known that Kachkariova is one of a large number of employees of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to have been abducted and then faced ‘treason’ or other charges under Russian legislation. Russia uses the fact that it has made it impossible to live, work and receive medical care on occupied territory without Russian citizenship as excuse for then bringing such extraordinarily cynical charges against Ukrainians for supporting Ukraine and its defenders.
Both women are claimed to have been ‘detained’ in December 2024, however this too cannot be verified. One of the woman is ‘accused’ of having transferred around 5 thousand UAH [some 105 euros] via a mobile app “to the account of a foreign bank used by Ukraine’s Security Service.” The money was intended to provide financial support and technical assistance to Ukraine’s Armed Forces. The wording of the Russian reports is, typically, different. One way to try to claim legitimacy for an invading power is to try to deny such legitimacy to Ukraine’s Armed Forces, with this and other analogous reports claiming that the money were to support “Ukrainian military formations.”
In the second case, the woman is alleged to have transferred 2.4 thousand UAH via a mobile app from her mother-in-law’s account to the same supposed “foreign bank which is used by Ukraine’s Security Service”. These were intended to provide financial assistance and material and technical provisions to Ukraine’s Armed Forces, including the unit in which her son is serving.
Although Russia’s enforcement agencies have been basing their political trials of Ukrainians on videoed ‘confessions’ extracted through torture since 2014, a variation on this has emerged on all occupied territory since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Here cowered and terrified men and women, some very young, are shown ‘repenting’ on video, with this clearly aimed at sending a chilling warning to other Ukrainians of what could await them if they demonstrate support for Ukraine. This is spelled out by Dovhopola who not only says that she is ‘to blame’ and apologises, but warns others not to do what she did. It is unclear whether the two women, both of whom appear to be in their fifties, were physically tortured or simply placed under massive psychological pressure and threats. The latter could well be against other members of her family still living under occupation.
It is just possible that the Russians first abducted the two women and then discovered, by scouring their telephones, etc., that they had made donations to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. There is, however, another, even more sinister explanation, namely that the advertisements and mobile apps are all deliberately created in order to trap patriotic Ukrainians.
See also:
Nalalia Shulha Fake Russian ‘court’ sentences abducted Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant employee to 15 years on 'sabotage' charges
Tetiana Klochko Russia sentences Ukrainian to 12 years on fake Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant ‘terrorism’ charges
Serhiy Spartesny Ongoing terror as Russia passes grotesque 'sentence' against abducted Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant employee
Oleh Morochkovsky and Dmytro Yevsieliev Abducted Ukrainians tortured into claiming Ukraine carried out Russia’s attack on Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
Another employee of the plant, Oleksiy Brazhnyk was last seen in February 2023, when the Russians produced a propaganda video, claiming to have ‘deported’ him.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant engineer held and tortured by Russian invaders for over a year