Serhii Ofitserov
Serhii Ofitserov
Date of disappearance: August 3, 2022
Place of disappearance: Kherson
Serhii Ofitserov is a manager from Kherson. When the Russians occupied the city, he stayed at home, and on August 3, 2022, he was abducted from his father’s apartment. Serhii’s apartment was illegally searched, and all his equipment was taken. For more than two months, Offitzerov’s family did not know where the Russians were holding him. Only in October 2022 did it become known that Serhii was in the seized building of the Kherson police department on Lutheranska Street and later in one of the pre-trial detention centers in Simferopol. He was illegally tried in Crimea. In October 2022, the Russians took the man to Lefortovo in Moscow. Eight more Kherson civilians abducted in July and August were sent there: Yuriy Kaiov, Serhii Kovalskiy, Serhii Heidt, Konstantin Reznik, Serhii Kabakov, Denis Lyalka, Yuriy Tavozhnyanskiy and Oleg Bogdanov. The Russians tried them for “international terrorism.” Since February, all nine have been illegally detained in SIZO No. 1 in Rostov in inhumane conditions. “The food there is horrible. It is cold. Medical care is almost non-existent,” says Gennadiy Ofitserov, Serhii’s father. Russian guards also do not take Ukrainians for walks or feed them: the men receive food only thanks to volunteers. In early 2024, the Russian Federation again illegally tried all eight men from Kherson. The “hearings” were closed, and the men could not communicate with their lawyers.
This publication was compiled with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation. It’s content is the exclusive responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the International Renaissance Foundation.
