Ex-head of district court in Kharkiv region sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison for treason

The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office said this in a post on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

"Prosecutors proved that in April 2022 the then head of the Balakliia District Court left the city for Kupiansk, which had been seized by the Russian Armed Forces, where he began working for the occupiers. At the proposal of Russian military personnel, he took the pseudo-position of 'acting deputy head of the department, head of the legal support division' in the illegally established 'Military-Civil Administration of the Kharkiv region'," the statement said.

According to the prosecution, the judge provided local residents with legal consultations based on Russian legislation and encouraged them to side with the enemy and cooperate with the occupation authorities.

"Each month he received a salary of 90,000 Russian rubles. In addition, the traitor took part in a competition for a judge's position in the temporarily occupied city of Luhansk and even obtained a Russian passport. After the city was liberated by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, he fled to Belgorod," the prosecutor's office added.

A disciplinary complaint was filed against the judge with the High Council of Justice. In April 2024, the Council dismissed him from office.

The Osnovianskyi District Court of Kharkiv found the former judge guilty of high treason committed under martial law (Part 2, Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and sentenced him to 15 years' imprisonment with confiscation of property, as well as a three-year ban on holding positions in state authorities.

The deadline for appealing the verdict is still pending.

"Since the convicted person is evading Ukrainian justice in the Russian Federation, the term of the sentence will be calculated from the moment of his actual detention. While he continues to evade punishment, the statute of limitations is suspended. The convicted individual is wanted," the regional prosecutor's office said.

At the time part of the Kharkiv region was occupied in 2022, the head of the Balakliia District Court was Volodymyr Kupin. He was elected to the position on November 10, 2021, and had worked at the Balakliia court since May 2012.

Kupin was born in Prykolotne, part of the Velykyi Burluk community in the Kupiansk district. He is currently 45 years old.

In 2023, the judge was formally charged in absentia with high treason (Part 2, Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).