The Khadzhibey District Court of Odesa has handed down a sentence to Kherson entrepreneur Serhiy Rybachok, who during the occupation of the city voluntarily became “the right hand” of the pseudo-mayor of Kherson, Oleksandr Kobets.
This is stated in the court ruling.
The investigation established that before the full-scale invasion Rybachok was a co-owner of the enterprise “Amalteya”, and in May 2022 he went into cooperation with the occupying authorities.
At first he assumed the role of a so-called adviser on economic development, but already within a few weeks he officially took up the post of first deputy head of the city’s occupation administration. To conceal his true identity, he used the pseudonym “Ushynskyi”.
In his position Rybachok oversaw energy, finance and the utilities sector.
Witnesses said that Rybachok personally recruited staff to work in the occupation authorities and pressured heads of municipal enterprises. In particular, one of the directors of a municipal enterprise recalled how Rybachok summoned him to the seized city council building and, under the supervision of armed men, demanded that the enterprise be re-registered under Russian laws.
On the eve of the de-occupation of the right-bank part of Kherson region, Rybachok left for occupied Skadovsk, where he is likely still residing.
The court in absentia found Serhiy Rybachok guilty of collaborationist activity and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment with confiscation of all property.
All the arrested property of the collaborator, including shares in the firms “Amalteya”, “Katrusya”, “Trans-Alliance” and part of a residential property in Kherson, will be transferred to the state.
It should be noted that last year Serhiy Rybachok’s wife – Olena Feodosiieva also received a sentence for collaborationist activity. She was appointed deputy head of the occupation administration of Kherson for economy and finance.