The court sentenced in absentia a resident of the Kherson region to 7.5 years in prison for participating in the organization and conduct of an illegal referendum in the temporarily occupied territory of the region.
This was reported by the Kherson Oblast Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the investigation, in September 2022 the convicted woman was a member of a so-called precinct election commission and took part in conducting a pseudo-referendum on the annexation of the occupied part of Kherson region to the Russian Federation. The illegal body operated in the territory of the village of Muzykivka in Kherson district.
Escorted by armed Russian military personnel, the woman went door-to-door to local residents, urged them to vote for “joining” Russia, distributed ballots, and kept a record of participants in the illegal “vote”.
The woman was found guilty of collaborationist activity under part 5 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In addition to imprisonment, the court ordered the confiscation of property and banned her from holding positions in state authorities, local self-government bodies, as well as from engaging in activities related to the electoral process and referendums, for a period of 12 years.
The verdict was issued in absentia. The convicted woman will serve the actual sentence after her arrest.
Earlier it was reported that law enforcement charged Kakhovka resident Iryna Karpachova with organizing and conducting an illegal referendum in the temporarily occupied territory of Kherson Oblast in September 2022.