On 7 March 2024, Russian online media reported on the arrest by Russian occupying authorities of ex-journalist Hennadiy Osmak in Ukraine’s Kherson region. According to these sources, Osmak was detained following a denouncement by an unspecified individual, who recognized him as a former journalist from the times the territory was controlled by Ukraine. This recognition would have motivated Russian occupying authorities to arrest him on charges of “participating in illegal armed formations”, reported the Kyiv-based Institute of Mass Information (IMI), a Ukrainian NGO. It was unclear why Osmak’s previous work as a journalist led occupying authorities to formulate charges linked to participation in armed warfare. It was also unclear if Russian authorities planned to try Osmak in court and what penalty he faced is found guilty. As reported by IMI, Osmak went to Russia following the start of the full-scale invasion and obtained a Russian passport. It was unclear when he returned to Kherson region and under what circumstances.
Originally from the city of Henichesk (Kherson region), Osmak was the long-time editor of local online outlet Noviy Vizyt (“New Visit”). The outlet ceased publications following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in the first days of which Henichesk came under Russian occupation. On 12 March 2022, Osmak confirmed that Noviy Vizyt was ceasing all activities. At the end of March 2022, the outlet was reportedly briefly reactivated and published materials on the activities of the new occupying authorities. However, publications ceased two weeks later and were never resumed, IMI reported. The NGO said that it had no contact with Osmak since the events of March 2022.
Ukraine’s southern Kherson region was almost fully occupied by Russian forces in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion. While Ukrainian forces liberated areas located on the right bank of the Dnipro river (including the capital city Kherson), which divides the region in two, areas on the left bank, including the city of Henichesk, remain under Russian occupation.
UPDATE: On 11 April 2025, Ukrainian NGO Crimean Tatar Resource Centre reported that Osmak had been placed in pre-trial detention in Chonhar, a village in Crimea near the border with the neighboring Kherson region. Russian occupying authorities also reportedly sentenced the ex-journalist to three years and two months in prison on charges of participating in an illegal armed group. It was unclear why the journalist was still being held in pre-trial detention if a court had already sentenced him to prison.
It was also not clear why he would have received a sentence lower than eight years in prison, which is the minimum sentence foreseen under article 208.2 of the Russian criminal code, which Osmak was reportedly found guilty of violating. Sources also told the Crimean Tatar Resource Centre that the journalist was tortured in custody, and confirmed that his detention was linked to his previous activities as a journalist.