An illegal Russian ‘court’ in occupied Zaporizhzhia oblast has sentenced Maryna Bilousova (b. 1964) to twelve and a half years’ imprisonment. The 61-year-old Ukrainian was charged under the invading state’s legislation with ‘treason’ for supporting the defenders of her own country.
Bilousova is from Prymorsk, which has been under Russian occupation since 2022. The charge of ‘treason’, under Article 275 of Russia’s criminal code, would appear to be over one donation to Ukraine’s Armed Forces made by bank transfer in January 2024. It was asserted on the Telegram channel of the occupation ‘Zaporizhzhia regional court’ that Bilousova (named only as ‘B’) had, in June 2023, “decided to give financial assistance to a foreign state [sic!] for activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation.” She had, purportedly, found the card number and account of the Ukrainian bank for sending money for Ukraine’s Armed Forces, “on a social media site banned in Russia”, and had, in January 2024, used the app of this bank to transfer money to that account.
This was deemed by an invading power’s illegal ‘court’ to warrant a twelve and a half-year prison sentence, followed by a further year’s restricted liberty.
Essentially the only information available has come from a largely anonymous Russian kangaroo court on occupied territory. It is quite possible that Maryna Bilousova has been imprisoned since early 2024, probably held incommunicado and without access to an independent lawyer. It is unfortunately very likely that her treatment was far worse than that suggested by the video footage of her being ‘escorted to the court’ and expressing ‘regret’ while seated in some kind of office.
That video still further confirms the suspicion that the mounting number of such monstrous sentences for donations is primarily aimed at sending a message to other Ukrainians on occupied territory. The message is especially chilling precisely because of what is not explained. There is nothing to suggest that there was, in fact, a ‘trial’, rather than just a videoed stunt in which Bilousova is shown hearing the sentence being passed, as well as her earlier words of regret (which fall far short of any real ‘repentance’, as were doubtless demanded). It remains unclear how Russia’s FSB finds out about such donations. It is possible that Ukrainians are seized by the invaders, with the donations only coming to light when the Russians scrutinize their telephones. It is, however, equally conceivable that the information is passed by telephone operators, or even, perhaps, that the messages with bank details are a setup, aimed at hunting out Ukrainian patriots.
There are an ever-mounting number of such horrific sentences passed against Ukrainians on all occupied territory for donations. In the vast majority of cases, the Ukrainian is charged with ‘treason’, under Article 275 of Russia’s criminal code. In a small number of cases, the victim is accused of ‘financing terrorism’ with this extraordinary charge based on politically motivated and profoundly flawed Russian rulings claiming that the Azov Regiment, and some other units of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, are ‘terrorist organizations’. In some cases, even the victims’ names are not revealed, with the aim of the reports, doubtless, to show them ‘repenting’ on video. There is every reason to assume that they do so under duress, and with access to proper lawyers.
Russia recognizes no restrictions, with those abducted and then sentenced including very young people who were underage when they made the donations, as well as men and women in their sixties or even older. In one especially brutal case, Svitlana Dovhopola from occupied Enerhodar was sentenced to 14 years for a donation to the military unit of Ukraine’s Armed Forces in which her son is serving.
See:
Yulia Stanika
Russian invaders’ ‘court’ sentences Ukrainian to 12. 5 years for patriotism
Lilia Kachariova and Svitlana Dovhopola
Huge sentences and videoed ‘repentance’ in Russia’s mounting terror in occupied Zaporizhzhia oblast
Serhiy Shtyrov
60-year-old from Russian-occupied Donbas sentenced to 13 years for donations to Ukraine’s defenders
Tetiana Omelchenko
Kateryna Korovina
Ivan Semykoz
Russia sentences Ukrainian to 8.5 years for donation as a teenager to Ukraine’s Azov Regiment
Stanislav Rudenko
Roman Hryhorian
Ukrainian seized in Crimea and sentenced to 12 years for donations to Ukraine' s defenders
Liudmyla Kolesnikova
Three unnamed victims
Russia stages terror arrests in occupied Zaporizhzhia oblast for donations to Ukraine’s Armed Forces
