The village of Novoaleksandrivka, in northern Kherson Oblast, was under Russian control for over seven months. A referendum on joining the Russian Federation was held there from September 17th to 23rd, 2022.
However, on October 3rd, Russian troops withdrew from the area. Liubov Zhovba’s niece, Anastasia (from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast), who is the director of the local cemetery, said she regularly spoke to her aunt both during and after the Russian occupation, and the subsequent arrival of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
But at the end of October, Zhovba stopped contacting her niece. Shortly afterwards, Zhovba’s 14-year-old grandson arrived, reporting that she had been detained on October 26th “for attending the referendum.”
“It has been established that pro-Russian residents of Novoaleksandrivka voluntarily agreed to be ‘helpful’ in conducting the illegal referendum. From September 23rd to 27th, they went door-to-door in neighboring villages, distributing ballots,” stated the SBU press service.
On December 5th, Zhovba, the cemetery director, was charged under Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code (collaboration), which carries a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment.
The prosecutor stated that during the referendum, the accused ensured that residents of Novoaleksandrivka and neighboring villages filled out the ballots she distributed, and then passed them on to the head of the territorial election commission.
On December 7th, facing the maximum sentence, the woman was coerced into signing a confession and waiving her right to a defense. On January 4th, 2023, the Primorsky District Court of Odessa sentenced Liubov Zhovba to five years in prison, with a ten-year ban from holding any positions related to administrative-economic functions and the electoral process.
The verdict stated that the election commission in which Zhovba allegedly worked was organized by an “individual not identified by the investigation.” However, the investigation somehow knew that this unidentified individual “was aware of the illegality of their actions,” “acted according to a pre-arranged criminal plan,” and colluded with “leaders of the occupying military-civilian administration of Kherson Oblast.” This suggests potential issues with the prosecution’s evidence, but the accused confessed in order to receive a lighter sentence. Therefore, the court did not assess either the evidence gathered by the investigation or the legality of its acquisition.
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