The Russians sentenced two residents of occupied Melitopol to 20 years in prison

The Russians illegally detained and imprisoned two residents of the temporarily occupied Melitopol of the Zaporizhzhia region — Margarita Kharenko and Serhiy Avramenko — for their pro-Ukrainian position. This was announced by the head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, Ivan Fedorov.

The Russians detained weightlifter Serhiy Avramenko and volunteer of the Ukrainian Volunteer Service Margarita Kharenko in 2023. Now the Southern District Military Court has sentenced them to 16 and 20 years in prison under Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (extremism and terrorism).

It is noted that Margarita Kharenko and Serhiy Avramenko were convicted for allegedly collecting information about the Russian military, transmitting data about the movement of Russian equipment and preparing a terrorist attack, which resulted in the death of a Russian military officer:

“The citizens of Melitopol were convicted in a court located in the territory of the Rostov region. But these are the people who are among the many who were in the temporarily occupied territory, who had nothing to do with terrorism. Who were simply in the territory of their home, where the Russians came,” Ivan Fedorov noted.

According to the head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, more than 50 residents of the temporarily occupied territory have been illegally convicted and are currently in prison.

On January 9, 2023, Russians kidnapped Margarita Kharenko from her own home. At first, she was held in the Melitopol Penitentiary No. 144, then she was transferred to the pre-trial detention center in the urban-type village of Yakymivka.

Subsequently, a criminal case was initiated against the woman under Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “extremism and terrorism”. On March 30, 2023, the Russians held a court hearing in Margarita’s case, but due to a lack of evidence, they failed to bring any charges against her. Margarita continued to be held captive. And the Melitopol weightlifter Sergey Avramenko was kidnapped by the Russians on January 14, 2023.

In May 2023, the Russians kidnapped a well-known journalist and her husband in Melitopol and unjustly accused them of terrorism. And still nothing is known about the fate of Oleksandr and Iryna Levchenko.