Four judges from Crimea sentenced to imprisonment

Four judges from temporarily occupied Crimea have been sentenced to 13 years in prison with property confiscation for betraying their oath to the Ukrainian people and joining the unlawful judicial bodies of the occupying state.

This was reported by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, according to Ukrinform.

"Under the public prosecution of the autonomous region, four former judges from Crimea who joined the enemy’s service received in-absentia sentences. They were found guilty of high treason (Part 1, Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and sentenced to 13 years in prison with property confiscation," the report states.

The prosecutors proved in court that, following the occupation of the peninsula, the defendants broke their oath to the Ukrainian people and began working for the judicial bodies established iunlawfully by the occupying state. Two of these individuals served as ‘judges’ in the occupied Dzhankoi district court, while the others served in the Rozdolne and Saky district courts in Crimea.

One of these so-called ‘judges’ was involved in the criminal prosecution of Ukrainian activist Volodymyr Balukh.

In performing ‘justice’ on behalf of and for the interests of the occupying state, the convicted judges enabled the functioning of the occupation's judicial system, thereby aiding Russian authorities in their subversive activities against Ukraine, the Prosecutor's Office added.

Previously, Ukrinform reported that the Crimean Prosecutor's Office has registered over 3,200 criminal cases since the Russian occupation began.