The Prymorskyi District Court of the city of Odesa sentenced Major Serhii Kolba to 9 years of imprisonment; he had voluntarily headed an illegal law-enforcement body in the temporarily occupied territory of Beryslav Raion of Kherson Oblast.
This is stated in the court’s verdict.
According to the case materials, Serhii Kolba, being a serviceman and holding the position of deputy head of the TCC and SP – head of the recruitment and staffing section, in June 2022, while in Beryslav, Kherson Oblast, defected to the Russian Federation.
The court documents state that he voluntarily took a position in an illegal law-enforcement body created in the temporarily occupied territory and performed functions related to commanding a unit, receiving reports of offenses, as well as assisting the occupying forces in identifying Ukrainian servicemen.
His actions were qualified under Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (state treason), Part 7 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (collaborationist activity) and Part 4 of Article 408 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (desertion).
For state treason the court sentenced him to 9 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property; for collaborationist activity — 8 years of imprisonment with a ban on holding public office for 10 years; and for desertion — 6 years of imprisonment.
By absorbing the less severe punishment into the more severe one, the final sentence was set at 9 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property and a ban on holding positions in bodies of state power and local self-government for a term of 10 years.
The court also stripped Kolba Serhii Heorhiiovych of the military rank of “major”. The start of serving the sentence will be counted from the moment the verdict comes into legal force.
In addition, a vehicle that belonged to Kolba was confiscated in favor of the state.