THE CASE OF SERHIY KOLMOGOROV - THE UNFAIRLY ACCUSED BORDER GUARD IS FREE

To better understand the situation about the Kolmogorov case it is necessary to go back to the events of Summer 2014. On July 5, a Russian diversion group landed to the coast in the outskirts of the village of Sedovo near Mariupol and destroyed a lookout post of the State Border Service of Ukraine. Ensign Olexandr Kovalev was killed during the attack. On August 24, the Russian army launched an offensive in Ukraine by large forces and surrounded a group of Ukrainian troops near Ilovaisk. On August 27, regular Russian army units seized Novoazovsk town (45 km to Mariupol). The city was defended by small and weakly armed units of border guards, police, the National Guard and the Armen Forces. Since September 5, fightings had began on the very outskirts of Mariupol and lasted long after the declaration of "truce." Thus, the situation on the front was critical, there was a real threat of the Russians will attack the city, combat ready units were hurriedly transferred to Mariupol.

On the evening of September 9, the border guards at the checkpoint on Gorska st. in Mariupol - Serhiy Kolmogorov was among them - noticed a car on the beach that was transmitting light signals towards the sea. At about 9:30 PM the car drove off the shore and started to move fast towards the checkpoint. The border guards claim they had loudly ordered the driver to stop, but he didn't even drop the speed. And then the checkpoint commander Officer A. Nagorny ordered to use deadly force. Simultaneously nine border guards opened fire. In the car was a married couple from Mariupol. The driver was not injured, and the woman was shot dead. So happened that Serhiy Kolmogorov found himself on trial because of, in fact, he had acted according to the statute and rules of a war time. The charge is based on the testimony of Yevgen Rozhkov - the separatist, who was transfering signals and driving the car - and another border guard from the checkpoint, who also fired the car. Despite the fact that the soldier carried out the commander's order, the Primorsky District Court of Mariupol - whose employees frankly sympathize with the aggressor country - on November 15, 2016 found him guilty of murder of the separatist. On February 7, 2017, the Court of Appeal of the Donetsk region upheld the verdict. At the same time, neither ballistic nor other sorts of examination, which would have proved 100% guilty of the Ukrainian border guards, has been carried out. 

Yesterday, the High Specialized Court of Ukraine considered the appeal in the Kolmogorov's case. The border guard was threatened with 13 years imprisonment. The Supreme Court refused to approve the previous court decision and released the accused from custody. 

The case of Serhiy Kolmogorov has caused a resonance in the society, first of all, among the war veterans. On November 6, during the court session few dozen of patriots, the veterans gathered near the cour office to support the soldier, who has been accused of he well fullfiled his duty.