On May 8, 2026, Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi District Court found a former Crimean judge guilty of a war crime for ordering the deportation of a Ukrainian citizen from occupied Crimea.
Who is accused
Lyubov Lomanova, born on Dec. 25, 1954, is a native of the city of Minyar in Chelyabinsk region, russia.
She worked in the Crimean regional court system since 1993, later serving as a judge of the Alushta City Court. In May 2005, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada appointed her as a judge of the Court of Appeal of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea for an indefinite term.
After russia occupied Crimea in 2014, Lomanova did not apply to Ukrainian authorities for transfer to another court or resignation. Instead, investigators say, she voluntarily joined the occupation judicial system and was appointed by a russian presidential decree as deputy chair of the so-called “Alushta City Court.”
Case details
In May 2015, Lomanova heard a case against a Ukrainian citizen who had lived in Crimea since 2007 and had not applied for russian citizenship after the occupation began.
According to the investigation, despite the protections guaranteed under Article 47 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states that residents of occupied territories do not require additional permits from occupying authorities, Lomanova found the man guilty of violating rules of stay on the “territory of the russian federation.”
She imposed a fine of 2,000 rubles and ordered his administrative expulsion from Crimea through what was described as “controlled independent departure.”
Verdict
The court ruled that Lomanova’s actions directly violated the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the forcible transfer or deportation of protected persons from occupied territory regardless of motive, as well as Additional Protocol I relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts.
Lomanova was convicted under Part 1 of Article 438 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code for violating the laws and customs of war.
For this episode, the court sentenced her to 11 years in prison. Combined with a sentence for high treason, the final punishment amounted to 12 years.
At the end of April 2026, Ukraine handed down its first conviction under Article 438 involving the persecution of civilians by occupation “judges.”