Sentences Cut For Two War Crimes Convictions
The lawyers did not dispute guilt but argued the court applied the wrong legal article in sentencing.
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Two former Ukrainian law enforcement officers have had their war crimes sentences reduced on appeal after lawyers successfully argued that the trial court had applied the wrong article of the law when deciding their prison terms.
The Zaporizhzhia court of appeal ruled that two of the four defendants in the original trial concerning the illegal detention, cruel treatment and unlawful transfer of civilians had been improperly sentenced. While not disputing their guilt, judges maintained that a separate conviction for collaboration was not properly considered, leading to their 20-year sentences being reduced to 15.
According to case files, in August 2022, four former Ukrainian law enforcement officers – Oleksii Koshel, Andrii Koshel, Mykola Dereza and Mykhailo Vydysh – voluntarily joined an illegally established Russian de facto department of internal affairs in the occupied Tokmak district of the Zaporizhzhia region. The unit operated out of the seized local police department.
The investigation alleged that the men, acting in collusion with each other and with representatives of the Russian armed forces, systematically committed crimes against the local population. They were found guilty of the unlawful imprisonment of at least six civilians from the Tokmak district between November and December 2022 who were detained solely for their pro-Ukrainian stance or their refusal to cooperate with the occupying forces.
“All the victims were detained and brought to this illegal law enforcement agency on various pretexts, yet no charges were ever filed against them," said prosecutor Oleksandra Zhuravliova. “They were denied legal assistance or access to a defence attorney. Their actual detention, imprisonment and subsequent forced transfer had no legal basis under international humanitarian law.”
The detainees were deprived of adequate food, drinking water, bedding, heating, sanitation and medical care. The men were also beaten, tortured with electric shocks and threatened with death. They were later forced to dig trenches, dugouts and other fortifications near the front line for periods ranging from ten days to six months. Afterward, the detainees were taken to the last Russian checkpoint and ordered to walk for dozens of kilometres toward Ukrainian-held Zaporizhzhia.
“The accused acted in concert with unidentified representatives of the Russian armed forces to implement the policy of the aggressor state,” Zhuravliova told journalists. “They all held positions in an illegitimate law enforcement agency: one was the chief of the so-called Tokmak City Department of Internal Affairs, another was the head of a temporary detention centre and others served as guards responsible for transporting detainees for this same illegal body. In the context of the international armed conflict, they persecuted individuals for their active pro-Ukrainian stance, organising their forced displacement and unlawfully imprisoning protected civilians. These actions are explicitly prohibited by international humanitarian law and constitute a war crime."
Forced Displacement
Oleksii Koshel, a former police major who also worked at the local military recruitment office, assumed the post of the de facto head of department of internal affairs after the occupation of Tokmak. According to the prosecution, he personally ordered the detention of pro-Ukrainian residents and organised a system of illegal confinement and forced labour. The verdict states that in November and December 2022, he signed documents authorising the forced displacement of local residents.
Andrii Koshel – a distant relative of Oleksii Koshel – is a former inspector at the Orikhiv Correctional Colony No 88 who held the position of de facto senior police officer in the public order department in occupied Tokmak. He directly participated in detaining, escorting and guarding victims held in the detention centre. Together with other accomplices, he subjected them to unlawful imprisonment and forced labour.
Vydysh, a former convoy police officer, worked as the de facto chief of the detention centre. He was responsible for the dire conditions in which detainees were held and it was on his direct orders that detainees were taken out for forced labour.
Dereza, a former court security guard, served as an escort. He was responsible for transporting people to the detention centre, guarding them during their captivity and forcing them to perform labour such as digging trenches. He was also involved in the forced displacement of victims
Victims gave evidence detailing their illegal detention, confinement without food, water or medical care, as well as acts of violence and forced labour. Additional evidence included in-court testimony from five Tokmak residents whose names were withheld for security reasons. Three had been held in the same illegal detention centre, while two were relatives of the victims.
They testified to seeing the victims being escorted by Vydysh and Dereza and confirmed their detention. The case was also supported by forensic medical reports on the victims’ health after their release and by Telegram messages between staff at the detention centre that implicated the accused.
Because all four defendants are wanted and not in Ukrainian-controlled territory, the trial was held in absentia.
Following a court verdict in May 2025, Oleksii Koshel and Vydysh were sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment under Part 2, Article 28 and Part 1, Article 438 of the criminal code of Ukraine. Andrii Koshel and Dereza received 11-year sentences for the same offence.
Andrii Koshel and Dereza had already been convicted in absentia in early 2024 for collaboration and aiding an aggressor state, receiving 14-year prison sentences. Therefore, in its verdict on the war crime, the Khortytskyi district court applied the principle of cumulative sentencing under Article 71 of the criminal code of Ukraine and combined the unserved portion of their prior sentences with the new one, issuing a final sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment for both men.
Appeal Ruling
When the Zaporizhzhia Regional Prosecutor’s Office filed an appeal against a ruling by the Khortytskyi District Court, it argued that the trial court had applied the wrong article of the law.
According to the appeal, the court should have used Part 4 of Article 70 of the criminal code of Ukraine and imposed a single, consolidated sentence based on the principle of ‘joinder of offences’, rather than by aggregating separate sentences. This is because the war crimes were committed in 2022, before Dereza and Koshel were sentenced in 2024 for collaborationist activities.
The prosecutor’s office did not dispute their guilt, but merely asked the trial court to correct its misapplication of the criminal code.
“While not questioning the proven guilt of Andrii Koshel and Mykola Dereza or the classification of their crime, I consider the May 19, 2025 sentence by the Khortytskyi District Court to be unlawful and subject to revision due to the incorrect application of the Law of Ukraine on Criminal Liability,” stated prosecutor Zhuravliova, arguing that “the local trial court should have applied Article 70, Part 4, not Article 71, of the criminal code of Ukraine when determining the final punishment”.
The prosecutor’s office also stressed that it had appealed the verdict not to seek a lighter sentence, but to ensure it complied with the law as war crimes cases were under intense scrutiny and judicial decisions must be legally precise.
During the November 20 appeal hearing, defence attorney Oleksandr Kysiliov from the Free Legal Aid Centre argued for the complete innocence of the four defendants. He insisted that the entire case was not based on substantive evidence.
“I believe the prosecution has proven absolutely nothing. My clients are not guilty of anything. This is all just words,” he declared, stressing the lack of any serious evidence.
The court of appeal reduced the sentences for Andrii Koshel and Mykola Dereza from 20 to 15 years, ruling that their 2022 crimes were precursors to the actions leading to their 2024 verdicts. The 12-year sentences for the other two men, Oleksii Koshel and Mykhailo Vydysh, remained unchanged.
With the court’s of appeal decision, the verdict is now legally binding and the sentences will be carried out upon the men’s arrest. According to the prosecutor’s office, the whereabouts of all four convicts are currently unknown. They were located in occupied territory during the pre-trial investigation.
