A Ukrainian court has handed down a suspended sentence to public organization Volunteers of Victory leader Olena Odnovol for illegally helping to organize presidential elections in Russia-occupied Crimea in March 2018. Odnovol will be released from prison on Friday, Russia's Ombudswoman for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova has said.

"She just spoke by phone to Ukrainian Ombudswoman Liudmyla Denisova. She said that today [on Thursday] a court convicted her and gave a three-year sentence. Tomorrow she will be released from the pretrial holding facility," Moskalkova was quoted as saying.

Where Odnovol will serve her suspended sentence is currently unknown, she added.

On Friday morning, the press service of the Prosecutor's General's Office (PGO) of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea said Kyiv's Desniansky District Court on August 16 issued a guilty verdict "which approved the agreement on the recognition of guilt between the prosecutor with the accused, who was the founder and leader of the Crimean regional branch of the all-Russian social movement Volunteers for Victory and who helped collect of signatures in support of Putin as a candidate for the 2018 Russian presidential election.

According to the verdict, Odnovol was found guilty of committing a criminal offense under Part 1, Article 110 of Ukraine's Criminal Code (encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine). She was sentenced to three years and three months of imprisonment and, based on Article 75 of the Ukraine's Criminal Code of Ukraine, was released from serving the sentence in jail. Instead, she was put on probation for three years.

On April 24, Ukraine's SBU Security Service agents notified Odnovol of suspicion of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 111 (high treason) of Ukraine's Criminal Code and Kherson's City Court ordered Odnovol detained as a preventive measure.