Detention: On April 7, 2022, Serhii Kotov was unlawfully abducted by Russian occupiers in the city of Oleshky, Kherson region. He was detained by FSB officers under the pretext of 'counteracting the conduct of a special military operation' and was later secretly transferred to occupied Crimea.

Sentence: On September 27, 2023, the Russian-controlled so-called 'Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea' sentenced Serhii Kotov to 15 years in a strict regime penal colony on fabricated charges of 'espionage' (Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code). In February 2024, the illegal 'Third Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction' upheld this sentence.

Serhii Anatoliiovych Kotov lived for many years with his family in Oleshky, Kherson region. Before the full-scale Russian invasion, he led a normal, peaceful civilian life. He had a third-degree disability due to a severe chronic leg disease, osteomyelitis, requiring constant medical supervision, specific care, and periodic treatment. Kotov urgently needed planned surgery to alleviate his condition and prevent further bone tissue destruction.

During the occupation of Kherson, several vehicles with Russian military and security service representatives arrived at Kotov's private house in the morning. As his daughter, Viktoriia Barabash, recalls, the occupiers ordered Serhii to immediately bring his wife and younger 14-year-old daughter outside, leaving him inside for a so-called 'urgent search.'

The family still does not know what the Russians were looking for, what questions they asked during the interrogation, or what might have interested them in his gadgets. However, the outcome of this pseudo-search was predetermined: Serhii was ordered to take only his internal Ukrainian passport, was taken from the house, and transported to an unknown location.

After being abducted from his home, Serhii Kotov was taken to Kherson. There, he was isolated and subjected to severe physical and psychological torture. Russian security forces systematically beat him, deliberately targeting his diseased leg. They placed a tight bag over his head, cutting off air, fired shots above his head, and threatened him with violence.

Due to pain and torture, Serhii Kotov repeatedly lost consciousness. However, the guards did not stop; they revived him by pouring water and continued the abuse, trying to extract a 'confession' of collaboration with Ukrainian special services or defense forces. No official detention protocols, charges, or legal defense were provided at this stage.

When the Russian military realized they could not hold Kherson against the advancing Ukrainian Armed Forces, they began mass deportations of Ukrainian prisoners and hostages to occupied Crimea. Serhii Kotov was among those deported. He was taken to Simferopol, initially placed in the notorious pre-trial detention centre No. 1.

In October 2022, he was transferred to a newly built FSB isolation facility — pre-trial detention centre No. 2. The occupying authorities created a special strictly isolated unit in this facility, designated exclusively for 'political' prisoners.

For almost a year, Serhii Kotov remained in a legal vacuum. The Russian side did not officially charge him with any criminal offenses, did not register him as detained under the criminal procedure code, and completely blocked independent lawyers' access to him. Only after persistent legal inquiries, in spring 2023, did the military prosecutor's office of the Russian Black Sea Fleet confirm to the family that Kotov was indeed in a 'penal system institution.' This document first mentioned the absurd claim that the Ukrainian citizen was detained by the Crimean FSB for 'counteracting the conduct of a special military operation.'

When it became impossible to conceal Serhii Kotov's imprisonment, the FSB decided to legitimize his detention by fabricating a large-scale criminal case. He was grouped in a case with another abducted Kherson volunteer with a severe disability, Mykola Petrovskii. Both Ukrainians were charged under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code ('Espionage'). The occupiers claimed that the civilians allegedly collected and transmitted data on the location, movement, and number of Russian occupation forces in Kherson region to Ukrainian special services and the Armed Forces. The trial was conducted under strict secrecy. The hearings were completely closed to the press, relatives, and the public.

Serhii Kotov's family, together with Ukrainian human rights defenders, continues to actively fight for his release, appealing to the International Committee of the Red Cross and Ukrainian state authorities to bring the wrongfully convicted Kherson resident home.

Information sourced from open sources: ZMINA, Suspilne Crimea, Media Initiative for Human Rights.

Photo: ZMINA.

Update date: 12.07.2026.