A Ukrainian court has sentenced the head of a district court in Poltava region to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property after finding her guilty of high treason for cooperating with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Friday, June 5.
The SBU described the case as the first known instance in Ukraine in which a sitting judge has received a prison sentence for working on behalf of Russian intelligence services.
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According to investigators, the judge was recruited by the FSB after Russia occupied the southern city of Berdiansk in the early months of the full-scale invasion.
At the time, she was serving as a judge at Berdiansk’s city district court.
The SBU said that in March 2022 she passed information to Russian intelligence about the movement of three fighters from the Azov special operations unit who were traveling from Mariupol toward Mangush.
Investigators also documented communications in which she allegedly recommended candidates to Russian handlers for positions in the occupation administration, including the role of Berdiansk’s Russian-installed mayor and the head of a seized local hospital.
The SBU further accused her of encouraging colleagues to support the Kremlin-backed occupation authorities and cooperate with Russia.
Arrested after relocating to government-controlled Ukraine
According to the investigation, the judge left occupied territory in the summer of 2022 and relocated to government-controlled Ukraine.
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She later obtained a position at the Poltava district court.
SBU officers detained her in April 2023 in her office at the courthouse.
The court found her guilty under Part 2 of Article 111 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, which covers high treason committed under martial law.
The SBU did not disclose the convicted judge’s name.
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