The Kherson City Court handed down a verdict to Kherson resident Natalia Zheltoukhova, who worked in the occupation migration department.
This is stated in the court’s verdict.
As the investigation established, in the summer of 2022 she submitted an application for employment and received from the occupation authorities the position of inspector of the so-called Department for Citizenship Issues in the migration department of the illegally created Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kherson Oblast.
In this position Zheltoukhova handled the acceptance of applications and documents, the issuance of visas, permits for the temporary stay of foreigners, as well as materials regarding the deportation and expulsion of stateless persons, the document says.
Zheltoukhova was present at the court hearing and partially admitted her guilt.
She explained that after the start of the full-scale invasion she was left without a job with a child to care for and practically without money.
According to her, in the summer of 2022 she turned to the former employment center for help, where she was offered a job in the occupation structure. The woman claimed that she initially refused, after which she was threatened, her Ukrainian passport was taken away and she was effectively forced to agree. She stated that she worked as a translator and allegedly did not have access to databases. After the de-occupation of the city, she said, she cooperated with the Security Service of Ukraine.
At the same time, the testimony of witnesses confirmed the guilt. Thus, one of the witnesses said that she had applied to the occupation passport office to obtain a Russian passport for her mother. According to her, an employee of the institution wearing a badge translated documents from Ukrainian into Russian, filled out forms and took part in the passport issuance procedure.
In addition, two witnesses identified Zheltoukhova from photographs as the person who provided translation services during the processing of documents to obtain Russian passports in the premises of the former Employment Center in Kherson.
In 2024 she was detained by Ukrainian law enforcement. Since then she has been held in the Mykolaiv pre-trial detention center.
The court found Natalia Zheltoukhova guilty of collaborationist activity (part 7 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). She was sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment without confiscation of property.