Kherson nine

Along with prisoners of war, civilian citizens of Ukraine are also in custody in the Russian Federation, accused of various crimes.

In the Southern District Military Court in Rostov, the hearing of the case of nine Ukrainian civilians detained in the “new territories” in July-August 2022 continues in open session. The “Kherson Nine” are charged with a rather rare article 361 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (an act of international terrorism) in connection with preparations for terrorist attacks against the military-civil administration (MCA) in territories annexed to Russia.

We will not discuss the issue of accession; we are only interested in the fate of these nine.

In particular, Yuriy Kayev and two others with him were detained in the Zaporozhye region while trying to deliver humanitarian aid under the flag of the Red Cross to the territory occupied by Russian troops, and they met the other accused only in court.

Usually applied to cases with such a plot, Art. 205 of the Criminal Code (terrorist act) cannot be used here, since during the specified period Kherson, although it was under the control of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the territory of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions was recognized as part of Russia only on September 30, 2022.

On November 11, Kherson again came under the control of Ukraine, but the nine people we were interested in were no longer there. On October 6, they were transported from Kherson to Simferopol, where they were officially detained under a video recording that was shown on the Crimean TV channel. Here, with the sanction of the court, they were “found” and were placed in custody, and on October 14 they were transferred to the Moscow Lefortovo detention center. At this stage, appointed defense attorneys participated in the case,

and only on May 23, 2023, Kayev told the lawyer under the agreement about the torture that he, according to him, was subjected to during his detention in Kherson.

The remaining defendants also refused to confess and talk in detail about the torture allegedly used to persuade them to incriminate themselves. Whether this is true or not, this must be determined by the court. The only thing that is undoubted and confirmed by documents is the fact that the accused were held incommunicado for two months.

The verdict in the case of the “Kherson nine” is expected in February 2026, and Novaya continues to monitor this case.