The Russians are “trying” nine people from Kherson for the “assassination” of Saldo and Stremousov: the abducted say about torture

In Russian Rostov-on-Don on August 15, another “meeting” took place within the framework of the court arranged by the Russians over nine people from Kherson. They were abducted by the Russians back in 2022, and now they are accused of “preparing an attempt” on Volodymyr Saldo, the Gauleiter of the occupied part of the Kherson region, and several other traitors, including Kyryl Stremousov.

The “defendants” to admit their involvement in what they are accused of, refuse and talk about torture. The details were disclosed in the Center for Journalistic Investigations with reference to “reports from the courtroom” published by Kremlin propagandists.

The Russians disclosed the details of the “indictment”, according to which they arranged a trial for nine citizens of Ukraine who lived in Kherson. Konstantin Reznik, Serhiy Kabakov, Yuri Tavozhnyanskyi, Oleg Bogdanov, Serhiy Ofitserov, Denys Lyalka, Serhii Heydt, Yurii Kaiov, and Serhii Kovalsky, who were abducted in the summer of 2022, the Russians accuse of participating “in a terrorist community” and “preparing an attempt” on “Management of the Administration of the Kherson Region”.

In particular, according to the Russian version, nine people from Kherson were allegedly planning to carry out assassination attempts on Gauleiter Saldo and several other traitors: Saldo’s “deputies” Kyril Stremousov and Vitaly Bulyuk, “deputy head of the military-civilian administration of the city of Kherson” Ihor Semenchev, as well as a member of the occupation ” of the government”, former People’s Deputy Oleksiy Kovalev. The latter, like Stremousov, was eventually eliminated by unknown persons, although the kidnapped Kherson people were not involved in this: by that time they had long been in Russian torture chambers.

During the meeting, the “witness”, the brother of the liquidated ex-Deputy of People’s Republic, collaborator Yury Kovalev, was questioned, he revealed that the “accused” allegedly replaced the jet ski on which Oleksiy Kovalev traveled “to work” to Kherson, which was still occupied at the time, after the destruction of the Antoniv bridge.

According to the “witness”, this jet ski stored in his garage could allegedly be replaced by Reznik and Kayov, because they, they say, used to work for him and knew where the garage was. At the same time, Kayov himself, according to the reports of Russian propagandists, stated in court: at the time of the “mining” of this vehicle, he and Reznik had already been kidnapped by the Russians. And the alleged trips of Oleksiy Kovalev between Kherson and the left-bank part of the Kherson region, given the numerous roadblocks of the Russians and difficulties with transport connections between the right and left banks, which already took place in the summer of 2022, were impossible.

The accusations on the part of Yuriy Kovalev, as Reznik noted in court, are due to conflicts that existed between them earlier: the brother of the traitorous people’s deputy turned out to be quite stingy and very reluctant to pay for the work done.

In addition, the relatives of the abducted men told the Center for Journalistic Investigations that Kovalev once worked for Kostiantyn Reznik and Serhii Kabakov – apparently, Russian journalists or representatives of the prosecution on the part of the occupiers confused him with Kaiov.

According to the Russian media, two of the illegally accused, Serhiy Kovalskyi and Denys Lyalka, declared in court that they are Ukrainian military personnel, so all trumped-up charges should be dropped from them. However, the Russian court denied them this.

The abducted Kherson residents also said that the Russians tortured them in the basement.

Consideration of the “court case”, which started in early 2024, is still ongoing. If this trial ends in a “guilty verdict”, the men could be sentenced to life in prison.

On August 15, it became known about a new suspicion received by Gauleiter Saldo: this time, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies accuse him of stealing almost 3 thousand tons of Ukrainian grain.

Earlier, Saldo was found guilty of treason, collaborationism and denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, for which he was sentenced in absentia to 15 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property (Part 2 of Article 111, Part 5 of Article 111-1, Part 1 Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).