Prosecutors of the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office of the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office have sent an indictment to the court against a citizen of Ukraine, who is accused of assisting the aggressor state (part 1 of Article 111-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The investigation established that in July 2022, the accused arrived from the territory controlled by Ukraine to the temporarily occupied village of Askania-Nova, where he agreed to head the "National Scientific Breeding and Genetic Center for Sheep Breeding of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences," renamed according to the “legislation” of the Russian Federation.

Accompanied by armed individuals, the man arrived at the institution, declared himself the "leader," informed the staff about the "transition" under the jurisdiction of the aggressor country, and organized the re-registration of the institution under Russian "legislation." By his order, the Ukrainian symbols on the premises of the institution were replaced with Russian ones, and the material and technical base of the enterprise was used in the interests of the occupiers.

After the de-occupation of the right-bank part of Kherson region, the accused hid from justice, but was later handed over to Ukrainian law enforcement agencies during the readmission procedure (the procedure for forcibly expelling a foreign citizen to their former country of residence).

At the prosecutor's request, the court chose a preventive measure in the form of detention until a verdict is reached. 

The pre-trial investigation was conducted by investigators of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Kherson region.

Note: according to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a guilty verdict of the court.