Two former Ukrainian police officers from Hola Prystan – 33-year-old Artur Norchenko and 32-year-old Mykola Kolesnichenko, who were last year in Ukraine found guilty in absentia of collaborationist activity, received actual prison terms only from the Russian occupiers.
This was reported by the Center for Journalistic Investigations.
According to the CJI, in 2022 the men switched to the enemy’s side and took up work in the occupation police. They broke into residents’ homes in the district, threatened them with execution and demanded money and property.
As Russian media already wrote in 2023, on December 6, 2022 Norchenko and Kolesnichenko broke into a house in the village of Chulakivka of the eponymous rural community, took its owner to the forest and threatened his family with violence using automatic rifles. The man was left alone after a ransom of almost 4,000 rubles was paid.
On July 19, 2023 the Russians detained Artur Norchenko and Mykola Kolesnichenko in Crimea.
From its own sources the CJI knows that the Russians threw both men into an illegal prison in the village of Chongar in Henichesk district. After some time they were sentenced to long prison terms – however, it is not known exactly what those were.
In the open Russian register of court decisions regarding this case there are only a few documents about how the occupation courts in Crimea reviewed preventive measures for both collaborators. From these rulings it can be seen that Mykola Kolesnichenko was accused of abuse of official powers and robbery. Artur Norchenko was charged with the same actions.
For these crimes Norchenko faced ten years imprisonment under Russian law, and Kolesnichenko – from 7 to 12 years in prison and substantial fines.
Information about their conviction in Russia was confirmed to the CJI by its own sources in Hola Prystan.
“It is unlikely that Artur Norchenko and Mykola Kolesnichenko have a chance to live to see release in Russia, which they decided to serve faithfully and loyally. Perhaps they have already been sent to “meat assaults” – the Russians persistently offer all people they have convicted and kidnapped to “atone for their guilt” with blood, by agreeing to sign a contract for the “SVO” and go kill Ukrainians,” one of the CJI’s former prisoners of the Russian occupiers told the CJI.
CJI sources in Hola Prystan confirmed information about their sentencing. One of the former prisoners of the occupiers noted that the Russians often offer the convicted “to atone for their guilt” by participating in the so-called “meat assaults”, so Norchenko’s and Kolesnichenko’s chances to live to be released are minimal.
In 2024 the Teplodar City Court of Odesa region sentenced in absentia Norchenko and Kolesnichenko for collaborationism to 15 years in prison with confiscation of all property.