Ukrainian Prisoner Claims Innocence Amidst Conviction for Collaboration
"I don’t deserve to be here at all," insists Tetyana Potapenko, a sentiment more commonly heard from those unjustly imprisoned. Sitting in her maroon overalls, Tetyana is resolute in denying the Ukrainian state's accusations against her. Now one year into a five-year sentence, she is among 62 convicted collaborators at a prison near Dnipro, held in isolation from the general inmate population.
Tetyana's hometown, Lyman, located near the front lines of the Donbas, was under Russian occupation for six months before being liberated in 2022. Despite her claims of innocence, Ukrainian prosecutors assert that Tetyana unlawfully assumed an official role under the occupiers, which included distributing relief supplies. She maintains that her actions were in line with her long-standing role as a neighborhood volunteer, a position she had held for 15 years, helping coordinate with local officials.
As we converse in the pink-walled room where inmates are allowed to phone home, Tetyana reflects on the difficult choices she faced. "Winter was over, people were out of food, someone had to advocate," she says. "I could not leave those old people. I grew up among them." Despite her intentions, her efforts to assist her neighbors during the occupation have led to her current imprisonment, a punishment she feels is deeply unjust.
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