Shevchenko, the former commander of the 73rd Special Operations Centre in Ochakiv, has been sentenced to 15 years for treason

On Wednesday, 1 April, the former commander of the Ochakiv 73rd Naval Special Operations Centre and adviser to the mayor, Eduard Shevchenko, was found guilty of treason and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment.

This decision was handed down by a panel of judges at the Zavodskyi District Court — Iryna Bobrova, Vadym Havrasienko and Inna Prytuliak, writes a correspondent for NikVesti.

The panel took almost a month to reach its verdict on Eduard Shevchenko. According to the operative part of the judgment, the court acquitted Shevchenko under Part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — this episode concerned events in 2018 linked to the arrival of a British warship in Odesa.

At the same time, he was found guilty under Part 2 of Article 111 and Part 1 of Article 263 of the Criminal Code. These charges relate to the recruitment of Ochakiv Mayor Serhii Bychkov and the transfer of data to the Russian Federation, as well as the unlawful handling of weapons.

For this, he was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property. The sentence takes into account his previous detention in a remand centre, where he has been held for three years.

In addition, he will be required to pay 21,000 hryvnias in expert fees. Some of the physical evidence in the case will be retained by the SBU, whilst the rest will be destroyed once the verdict becomes final. The weapons seized from Shevchenko are to be handed over to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

After the verdict was announced, the defendant briefly responded to the court’s decision, confirming that he understood its content. In a comment to journalists, he stated that he did not agree with the verdict.

«You were at the hearing, you saw everything; do you think I was expecting this verdict?» Eduard Shevchenko asked the journalists present.

«And do you not regret going to Bychkov with this proposal?» asked a journalist from NikVesti.

«I didn’t go to him with a proposal; I was obliged to submit it».

«Do you regret submitting it?» the journalist asked again.

«If I hadn’t filed it… God only knows. Do I regret it, do I not? I haven’t thought about it yet,» he replied.

He also said that he plans to appeal the verdict in the near future. Furthermore, Shevchenko said that he is refusing a possible prisoner exchange that had been offered to him previously.

«Why should I agree to a swap with people I don’t consider my own? Fight alongside them for two years and then agree to a swap? Swap this prison for another?» said Shevchenko.

«In 2016, they (the Russian side, — note) offered 25,000 dollars for the commander’s head,» added his comrade from the courtroom.

The verdict may be appealed within 30 days.

The case of Eduard Shevchenko

The trial of Eduard Shevchenko, who was accused of collaborating with Russian special services, began on 6 February. News of his arrest on charges of treason emerged in March 2023. He not only headed the Ochakiv City Council department responsible for security in the city, but was also, at one time, commander of the 73rd Naval Special Forces Centre, an ATO veteran and a recipient of state orders.

In an interview with journalists, he spoke negatively about his years of service in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, citing the unfair level of provision for military personnel.

At the hearing on 27 May, the court considered the search of the defendant’s home. However, apart from a dark screen, it was impossible to see anything due to the lack of light in the house.

On 4 June, the court considered the searches of the home of the father of an officer from the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Federation, who is linked to the case concerning the recruitment of the mayor of Ochakiv.

In October, the court partially lifted the seizure of the defendant’s property. This concerns his 16-year-old son’s mobile phone and a thermal imager.

How is the mayor of Ochakiv linked to the treason case?

During the arrest of Eduard Shevchenko in March 2023, the SBU reported, among other things, that he had attempted to recruit Mayor Serhii Bychkov.

According to the investigation, whilst Eduard Shevchenko held the post of head of the security and surveillance department of the Housing and Communal Services Directorate of the Ochakiv City Council, he was tasked by Serhii Kolesnikov with recruiting the mayor to ensure his loyalty. In a direct conversation with Bychkov at the city council, Shevchenko said that representatives of the Russian Federation wished to speak with the mayor.

«He is very wary. I suggested going through me,» he reported to Kolesnikov at the time following his conversation with the Ochakiv mayor.

Following his arrest, Eduard Shevchenko stated that he was surprised by the SBU’s press release, which claimed that he had attempted to recruit Mayor Serhiy Bychkov to work for the Russians.

Denis Zhelo, deputy head of the Public Oversight Council of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine, commented on the lack of allegations by law enforcement against Ochakiv Mayor Serhii Bychkov, whose colleague had been detained on charges of treason. According to Denys Zhelo, Ochakiv Mayor Serhii Bychkov «was on friendly terms in every respect with Russian intelligence agent Eduard Shevchenko».

Eduard Shevchenko himself noted that he considers Serhii Bychkov to be the most effective mayor Ochakiv has ever had.

The mayor himself was almost always reluctant to speak to the media. Commenting on this, the head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, Vitalii Kim, suggested that Serhii Bychkov does not engage with the community or report on his work because he is «a private person».

During one of the hearings in the Eduard Shevchenko case, an excerpt from a dialogue between Mayor Serhii Bychkov and the Russian side was played. The conversation took place under the supervision of representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine.

Serhii Bychkov himself was repeatedly absent when the court was due to question him in this case. Iryna Bobrova, a judge at the Zavodskyi District Court in Mykolaiv, even stated that she did not understand why the mayor of Ochakiv, Serhii Bychkov, was frequently abroad whilst the city was under daily shelling.