In Odessa, nine members of TCC groups sentenced for kidnapping and torturing men
In Odessa, nine members of the notification groups of the district territorial center of recruitment and social support (TCC and SP) have been sentenced for illegal deprivation of liberty, kidnapping, and torture of men during mobilization activities. Six received real prison terms, with the harshest sentence being seven years and one month of imprisonment. The trial regarding two more defendants is ongoing.
This was announced on October 14 by the Prosecutor General's Office and the State Bureau of Investigation.
The Primorsky District Court of Odessa issued guilty verdicts throughout September-October 2026. Among the convicted are military personnel and civilians involved in conducting mobilization activities.
According to the prosecutor's office, the illegal actions occurred in April-May 2026. Members of the notification groups illegally detained men on the streets of Odessa, forcibly put them into cars, and delivered them to the territorial recruitment center.
The men were beaten, gas was used, and violence was threatened
The investigation established that during the detentions, group members used physical violence, tear gas, threatened the victims, and humiliated them.
The men were forced to provide personal data and information about other persons of conscription age.
In one episode, the victim was threatened with sexual violence. In another case, a man lost consciousness after tear gas was used.
Law enforcement also established the fact of taking money from one of the victims. During forced transportation to the TCC, one of the convicted persons took 5,200 hryvnias from the man's wallet.
This episode was additionally qualified as robbery committed under martial law.
According to the SBI, during the investigation, law enforcement documented numerous cases of illegal detention of people, beatings, intimidation, and psychological pressure.
What punishments did the court impose
All nine defendants pleaded guilty and entered into plea agreements. The court approved these agreements and imposed punishments depending on the role of each participant.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, six convicts received real prison terms. The harshest punishment is seven years and one month of imprisonment.
Two others were sentenced to two years of service restriction with a deduction of 10% of their financial allowance to the state revenue.
Another convict received five years of imprisonment with release from serving the sentence on probation for two years.
In addition, four convicts were banned for three years from holding positions in district TCC and SP and from participating in mobilization activities.
The actions of the defendants were qualified under the articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on illegal deprivation of liberty and kidnapping, commission of a crime by a group of persons, and torture. One of them was additionally charged with robbery under martial law.
Two more defendants did not plead guilty. Their cases are ongoing, and no final court decisions have been made yet.
Law enforcement previously exposed a series of violence cases in the Odessa TCC
The problem of illegal detentions and use of force during mobilization activities in Odessa has already been the subject of criminal investigations.
On August 18, the SBI reported suspicions against ten servicemen of the Kyiv District TCC and SP of Odessa. At that time, law enforcement stated that they documented 15 episodes of possible violence involving two notification groups.
According to the investigation, group members repeatedly beat men, used tear gas, and forcibly delivered them to the TCC.
Among the documented episodes was the pursuit of a man who, according to the SBI, was hit by a service car. In another case, the victim was strangled, beaten, handcuffed, and forced to provide the password to his mobile phone.
Investigators also established that group members used the phrase "Blow, pack and complete" among themselves, which, according to the SBI, they even set as a wallpaper on mobile phones.
Earlier, on September 7, the Primorsky District Court of Odessa had already sentenced a TCC serviceman for torture and kidnapping of a man during mobilization activities. He was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment.
As the court established in that case, servicemen, without police involvement, chased a man who ran into the entrance of a residential building. One of them sprayed tear gas into the victim's face, after which the man was forcibly put into a service car.
On the way to the TCC, they continued to beat him and forced him to provide personal data. The defendant pleaded guilty and agreed to the imposed punishment.
The current announcement by the prosecutor's office summarizes a number of verdicts issued in September-October. At the same time, it does not detail the correspondence of each verdict to all previously reported episodes of the investigation.
Who has the right to detain citizens during mobilization
The procedure for conducting mobilization activities is defined by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 560.
According to it, representatives of the TCC and SP have the right to check military registration documents and serve summonses in cases stipulated by law. Representatives of local authorities and police officers may also be part of the notification groups.
At the same time, administrative detention and forced delivery of a person to the TCC in cases provided by law are carried out by police officers. Members of notification groups cannot independently use violence or deprive a person of liberty without legal grounds.
The SBI emphasizes that conducting mobilization activities does not justify torture, illegal detention, or humiliation of people.
Investigations into cases of violence by TCC employees are carried out, in particular, within the framework of the "Honest Conscription" operation, which the SBI conducts with the assistance of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In August, law enforcement reported on inspections of territorial recruitment centers in various regions of Ukraine. Among the areas of work, abuse of office, beatings, and torture of conscripts were mentioned separately.
The new verdicts in Odessa are another result of criminal prosecution of persons involved in violence during mobilization activities. At the same time, court proceedings regarding other defendants are not yet completed.
Based on materials from: Prosecutor General's Office, State Bureau of Investigation, Course of Ukraine