Kotov Sergey Anatolevich (Kotov Sergiy Anatoliyovich)

In Kherson, in the city center on March 27, 2022, Russian soldiers abducted 28-year-old volunteer Nikolai Petrovskii. Before his disappearance, the activist left for a meeting and did not return. FSB officers of Russia held him in a basement for six months, and during the retreat of Russian troops, they took him out of the city. The man was held at the Kherson commandant's office for some time. The man reported that he was beaten and tortured there. For the next six months, the relatives did not know the whereabouts of Petrovskii, and in October 2022, a court-appointed lawyer informed the family that Nikolai was in Simferopol Detention Center No. On April 7, 2022, in Oleshki, Kherson region, Russian soldiers took away 50-year-old Sergey Kotov. According to his daughter, Viktoria Barabash, security forces broke into their house at six in the morning, conducted a search, and then took Sergey away. At first, Kotov was in Kherson for about a week, in the SBU building, where he was tortured. According to her daughter, Sergey Kotov was beaten, injuring his sick leg, a bag was put over his head, shots were fired over his head, and he was threatened with death. Due to torture, the man lost consciousness, but they brought him back to consciousness and continued the abuse. Following Kherson, Kotov was transferred to occupied Crimea, where he was initially held in Simferopol Detention Center No. 1, and in October 2022, he was transferred to Detention Center No. It later became known that a criminal case was opened against Nikolai Petrov and Sergei Kotov on charges of espionage." 3. In the opinion of the security forces, the guilt of the Ukrainians consisted in the fact that they "opposed the occupation authorities. Allegedly, together with other citizens, Petrovskii recorded the locations of Russian troops in the Kherson region in a general chat, including in the area of the settlement of Chernobaevka. Sergey Kotov, according to the FSB, was an accomplice of Petrovskii. On September 27, 2023, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea found Sergey Kotov and Nikolai Petrov guilty and sentenced Petrov to 16 years of imprisonment, and Kotov to 15 years of imprisonment. In both cases, the place of serving the sentence was determined to be a strict regime correctional colony. On February 13, 2024, the Third Appellate Court of General Jurisdiction left the sentence in force.