"He wanted Henichesk to have its own voice". The story of journalist Gennadiy Osmak, imprisoned by the occupiers
Source: Zmina
Author: Oleksandra Yefimenko
Russian security forces detained Hennadiy Osmak, a journalist from Henichesk, after the occupation of southern Kherson Oblast, when the city was already under full Russian control. He was charged with participating in the Crimean Tatar battalion named after Noman Chelebidzhihan, having ties to Ukrainian intelligence agencies, and “financing terrorism.”
Hennadiy Osmak is a journalist and founder of the online publication “Novyi Vizit,” one of the largest local media outlets in the Kherson region prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion. After refusing to cooperate with the occupying authorities, he was detained and eventually taken into custody in March 2024. A Russian-controlled court sentenced the journalist to 3 years and 2 months in prison to be served in a maximum-security penal colony. In December 2025, it was reported that a Russian appellate court had denied a request to reduce the prison term, upholding the original sentence.
To learn more about the journalist’s work, the circumstances of his detention, and his imprisonment, ZMINA spoke with a colleague of Hennadiy’s, as well as with a person close to the journalist, whose name we are withholding for security reasons.
In the journalistic community of the Kherson region, Hennadiy Osmak was well known long before the full-scale Russian invasion. For many, he was not just a local media figure, but a person who for years had tried to fill the information vacuum in the Henichesk district—a region that for decades had been without its own television station or systematic local broadcasting.
Hennadiy’s colleague, Valeriy Dolyna, head of the Kherson Regional Organization of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, explains that as far back as the 1990s and early 2000s, Henichesk effectively had no access to local television news. The city is located nearly 200 kilometers from Kherson, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the district’s residents remained outside the regular coverage of regional television channels.
“Gennadiy was deeply troubled by the fact that the Henichesk district had no television of its own. He talked about it constantly and eventually threw himself into the project,” recalls Valerii Dolyna.
Osmak was among those who initiated the creation of a district television station in Henichesk. They started with cable broadcasting—with a small studio and minimal technical capabilities. As Dolyna notes, they may have lacked experience back then, but the desire to work and give the community its own news platform was decisive:
“Perhaps something was missing—equipment or video experience. But he had a tremendous desire to work and give people local television. And in that sense, he achieved a great deal.”
Over time, Osmak’s professional network expanded. He regularly traveled to Kherson, communicated with colleagues, and sought advice on the development of broadcasting, the organization of editorial work, and technical solutions. Valery Dolina cites Gennady Osmak’s focus on objectivity and hard work as a defining characteristic of his journalism. He knew the local communities, the issues facing the districts, and the people on the ground well—and this built the audience’s trust.
“He never chased after sensational headlines. It was important to him that the information be timely and as objective as possible. People trusted him; he enjoyed great authority,” notes Osmak’s colleague.
Later, Gennadiy focused on developing the online publication “Novyi Vizit,” which gradually became one of the most influential local media outlets in southern Kherson Oblast. The publication covered life in the Henichesk district, events at the administrative border with Crimea, and the work of local authorities—without distinguishing between “convenient” and “inconvenient” topics. According to Dolyna, it was precisely Osmak’s principled stance and independence that often made him vulnerable. Even before the occupation, he had repeatedly faced pressure and aggression because of his reporting.
“Not everyone likes the truth. There were instances of physical pressure, but he did not back down and remained committed to professional journalism,” he says.
After the full-scale invasion began, there was no longer any direct contact between colleagues. The Kherson region quickly fell under occupation, and communication became dangerous. At the same time, Valerii Dolyna emphasizes that Osmak remained true to his professional principles and did not cooperate with the occupying authorities.
“I can’t speak to all the circumstances, but I know one thing—he always stood on the side of objectivity and truth. He could not betray that position,” emphasizes the head of the regional branch of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.
When Russian security forces detained journalist Hennadiy Osmak from Henichesk, the case was already effectively prepared. He was charged with participating in the so-called “Crimean Tatar Battalion,” ties to Ukrainian intelligence agencies, and “financing terrorism.” The basis for the charges, in particular, was a sack of potatoes that the journalist had brought to his Crimean Tatar acquaintances. The result: years in a maximum-security prison, torture, transfers between prisons, and serious health risks.
A close associate of Hennadiy Osmak, whose name we are withholding for security reasons, explained that it was precisely the popularity of the online media outlet “Novyi Vizit,” founded by Osmak, and the journalist’s principled stance that made him a target for Russian intelligence services. After all, prior to the full-scale invasion, his outlet was one of the largest in the Kherson region in terms of audience reach, second only to one regional media outlet.
“He created ‘Novy Vizit’ himself after municipal television was shut down due to a lack of funding. Within a few years, it became one of the region’s largest news outlets. He wrote about everything—without favoring anyone in power, without sugarcoating anything. That’s exactly why he had so many enemies,” says ZMINA’s source.
After 2014, the journalist systematically covered events related to the occupation of Crimea, the situation at the administrative border, and events in Chongar, Henichesk, and southern Ukraine. His articles were read in both Crimea and Russia—especially during moments of crisis, such as the bombing of power lines in Chongar. It was then that the “Novy Vizit” website experienced a sharp increase in its audience.
According to our interviewee, even before the full-scale invasion, the website had repeatedly been subjected to DDoS attacks, especially in the run-up to the elections. And on the first day of the Russian invasion, the attack was so powerful that the site effectively stopped working.
“On the first day of the full-scale invasion, a massive attack on the website began alongside the shelling. They simply took it down. And within a few hours, the city was occupied, and the security services came to Hennadiy with an offer to cooperate—to use the website to promote Russian propaganda,” our source notes.
Gennadiy Osmak refused. On March 22, 2022, he handed over access, stating that he no longer had any connection to the site. However, despite attempts by Russian specialists, particularly from Moscow, the site never functioned as a propaganda platform. Subsequently, the domain ended up in the possession of a Russian online casino. After the occupation of Henichesk, the journalist stayed at home, rarely going outside. According to the source, he was on the “no-travel” list—such people were simply not allowed to leave the occupied territory. Obtaining a Russian passport was a necessity: without it, he was threatened with “the basement.”
In 2024, to survive, Hennadiy Osmak began working part-time as a taxi driver. In January, he was involved in a minor traffic accident during curfew. The next day, his home was raided.
“They took him away and tortured him for six hours—physically and psychologically. They took his electronics, documents, and car. Then they released him. He even took a polygraph test—without any ‘confessions.’ But that meant nothing. They needed a person for a show trial,” our interviewee recounts.
The journalist was detained a second time on March 6, 2024. Gennadiy was taken right off the street, and a video of the “violent arrest” was filmed.
Based on the official version of the Russian prosecution, the occupying Henichesk District Court of the Kherson region found Gennady Osmak guilty of “participating in an illegal armed group on the territory of a foreign state,” specifically in the “Crimean Tatar Volunteer Battalion named after Noman Chelebidzhihan.” According to Russian security forces, he allegedly acted out of “political hostility” toward the Russian Federation, participated in the blockade of Crimea and the “violent change of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation,” and also provided “information and propaganda support” to the battalion and supplied food to its members. The verdict was based on video recordings and other evidence that the occupying authorities called “conclusive,” although most of it relates to the journalist’s activities on Ukrainian territory.
“According to Russian media, they also accused him of being the PR manager for this battalion. And they found a video somewhere showing him bringing a sack of potatoes to Crimean Tatars in 2015, and they used that sack of potatoes to accuse him of financing terrorism. The lawyer managed to prove that some of the ‘evidence’ simply could not have existed—at that time, Gennadiy was undergoing surgery due to back problems,” a ZMINA source commented on the journalist’s sentence.
The decision to imprison Osmak was handed down by Judge Kirill Sevastyanov, who, prior to the occupation of the left bank of the Kherson region, served as a magistrate in Precinct No. 218 in the Russian city of Tuapse (Krasnodar Krai). On August 12, 2024, he sentenced the journalist to 3 years and 2 months in a maximum-security prison, one year of which Gennadiy must serve in jail.
Later, in January 2025, Judge Oleksiy Pushnoy of the occupation-era Novotroitsk Interdistrict Court upheld the journalist’s conviction. It is known that during the occupation of Crimea, Pushnoy served his mandatory military service in the Internal Troops in Sevastopol, subsequently deserted, and then began serving in the Russian police in the same city. He had no prior judicial experience at the time of his appointment.
Gennadiy Osmak spent over a year in a pretrial detention center in the Chongar district—relatively close to home, which allowed for the delivery of medication, as the journalist has diabetes and serious spinal problems.
“They shocked him with electricity, kept him in the cold, doused him with water; he sat in wet clothes for a week,” our source recounts regarding Osmak’s conditions in the Simferopol pretrial detention center during his transfer.
Currently, Gennady Osmak is being held at Maximum Security Colony No. 6 in the village of Melechovo in the Vladimir region of the Russian Federation—far from his family. According to our source, upon arrival, everything was taken from him, including his medication. It is unknown whether he has access to necessary treatment. In December 2025, it became known that the Russian Federation’s court of cassation had refused to reduce the journalist’s prison term, upholding the decision to serve his sentence in a maximum-security prison. His lawyer will attempt to secure Osmak’s transfer closer to Crimea or the Krasnodar Krai.
“Right now, there is only one goal—for him to survive. He has a little over a year left. What his loved ones are going through is nothing compared to what he himself is going through,” says the source.
Author: Oleksandra Yefimenko
Russian security forces detained Hennadiy Osmak, a journalist from Henichesk, after the occupation of southern Kherson Oblast, when the city was already under full Russian control. He was charged with participating in the Crimean Tatar battalion named after Noman Chelebidzhihan, having ties to Ukrainian intelligence agencies, and “financing terrorism.”
Hennadiy Osmak is a journalist and founder of the online publication “Novyi Vizit,” one of the largest local media outlets in the Kherson region prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion. After refusing to cooperate with the occupying authorities, he was detained and eventually taken into custody in March 2024. A Russian-controlled court sentenced the journalist to 3 years and 2 months in prison to be served in a maximum-security penal colony. In December 2025, it was reported that a Russian appellate court had denied a request to reduce the prison term, upholding the original sentence.
To learn more about the journalist’s work, the circumstances of his detention, and his imprisonment, ZMINA spoke with a colleague of Hennadiy’s, as well as with a person close to the journalist, whose name we are withholding for security reasons.
“He had a tremendous desire to work”
In the journalistic community of the Kherson region, Hennadiy Osmak was well known long before the full-scale Russian invasion. For many, he was not just a local media figure, but a person who for years had tried to fill the information vacuum in the Henichesk district—a region that for decades had been without its own television station or systematic local broadcasting.
Hennadiy’s colleague, Valeriy Dolyna, head of the Kherson Regional Organization of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, explains that as far back as the 1990s and early 2000s, Henichesk effectively had no access to local television news. The city is located nearly 200 kilometers from Kherson, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the district’s residents remained outside the regular coverage of regional television channels.
“Gennadiy was deeply troubled by the fact that the Henichesk district had no television of its own. He talked about it constantly and eventually threw himself into the project,” recalls Valerii Dolyna.
Osmak was among those who initiated the creation of a district television station in Henichesk. They started with cable broadcasting—with a small studio and minimal technical capabilities. As Dolyna notes, they may have lacked experience back then, but the desire to work and give the community its own news platform was decisive:
“Perhaps something was missing—equipment or video experience. But he had a tremendous desire to work and give people local television. And in that sense, he achieved a great deal.”
Over time, Osmak’s professional network expanded. He regularly traveled to Kherson, communicated with colleagues, and sought advice on the development of broadcasting, the organization of editorial work, and technical solutions. Valery Dolina cites Gennady Osmak’s focus on objectivity and hard work as a defining characteristic of his journalism. He knew the local communities, the issues facing the districts, and the people on the ground well—and this built the audience’s trust.
“He never chased after sensational headlines. It was important to him that the information be timely and as objective as possible. People trusted him; he enjoyed great authority,” notes Osmak’s colleague.
Later, Gennadiy focused on developing the online publication “Novyi Vizit,” which gradually became one of the most influential local media outlets in southern Kherson Oblast. The publication covered life in the Henichesk district, events at the administrative border with Crimea, and the work of local authorities—without distinguishing between “convenient” and “inconvenient” topics. According to Dolyna, it was precisely Osmak’s principled stance and independence that often made him vulnerable. Even before the occupation, he had repeatedly faced pressure and aggression because of his reporting.
“Not everyone likes the truth. There were instances of physical pressure, but he did not back down and remained committed to professional journalism,” he says.
After the full-scale invasion began, there was no longer any direct contact between colleagues. The Kherson region quickly fell under occupation, and communication became dangerous. At the same time, Valerii Dolyna emphasizes that Osmak remained true to his professional principles and did not cooperate with the occupying authorities.
“I can’t speak to all the circumstances, but I know one thing—he always stood on the side of objectivity and truth. He could not betray that position,” emphasizes the head of the regional branch of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.
Russian security services came with an offer to cooperate
When Russian security forces detained journalist Hennadiy Osmak from Henichesk, the case was already effectively prepared. He was charged with participating in the so-called “Crimean Tatar Battalion,” ties to Ukrainian intelligence agencies, and “financing terrorism.” The basis for the charges, in particular, was a sack of potatoes that the journalist had brought to his Crimean Tatar acquaintances. The result: years in a maximum-security prison, torture, transfers between prisons, and serious health risks.
A close associate of Hennadiy Osmak, whose name we are withholding for security reasons, explained that it was precisely the popularity of the online media outlet “Novyi Vizit,” founded by Osmak, and the journalist’s principled stance that made him a target for Russian intelligence services. After all, prior to the full-scale invasion, his outlet was one of the largest in the Kherson region in terms of audience reach, second only to one regional media outlet.
“He created ‘Novy Vizit’ himself after municipal television was shut down due to a lack of funding. Within a few years, it became one of the region’s largest news outlets. He wrote about everything—without favoring anyone in power, without sugarcoating anything. That’s exactly why he had so many enemies,” says ZMINA’s source.
After 2014, the journalist systematically covered events related to the occupation of Crimea, the situation at the administrative border, and events in Chongar, Henichesk, and southern Ukraine. His articles were read in both Crimea and Russia—especially during moments of crisis, such as the bombing of power lines in Chongar. It was then that the “Novy Vizit” website experienced a sharp increase in its audience.
According to our interviewee, even before the full-scale invasion, the website had repeatedly been subjected to DDoS attacks, especially in the run-up to the elections. And on the first day of the Russian invasion, the attack was so powerful that the site effectively stopped working.
“On the first day of the full-scale invasion, a massive attack on the website began alongside the shelling. They simply took it down. And within a few hours, the city was occupied, and the security services came to Hennadiy with an offer to cooperate—to use the website to promote Russian propaganda,” our source notes.
Gennadiy Osmak refused. On March 22, 2022, he handed over access, stating that he no longer had any connection to the site. However, despite attempts by Russian specialists, particularly from Moscow, the site never functioned as a propaganda platform. Subsequently, the domain ended up in the possession of a Russian online casino. After the occupation of Henichesk, the journalist stayed at home, rarely going outside. According to the source, he was on the “no-travel” list—such people were simply not allowed to leave the occupied territory. Obtaining a Russian passport was a necessity: without it, he was threatened with “the basement.”
In 2024, to survive, Hennadiy Osmak began working part-time as a taxi driver. In January, he was involved in a minor traffic accident during curfew. The next day, his home was raided.
“They took him away and tortured him for six hours—physically and psychologically. They took his electronics, documents, and car. Then they released him. He even took a polygraph test—without any ‘confessions.’ But that meant nothing. They needed a person for a show trial,” our interviewee recounts.
They shocked him with electricity, kept him in the cold, and doused him with water
The journalist was detained a second time on March 6, 2024. Gennadiy was taken right off the street, and a video of the “violent arrest” was filmed.
Based on the official version of the Russian prosecution, the occupying Henichesk District Court of the Kherson region found Gennady Osmak guilty of “participating in an illegal armed group on the territory of a foreign state,” specifically in the “Crimean Tatar Volunteer Battalion named after Noman Chelebidzhihan.” According to Russian security forces, he allegedly acted out of “political hostility” toward the Russian Federation, participated in the blockade of Crimea and the “violent change of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation,” and also provided “information and propaganda support” to the battalion and supplied food to its members. The verdict was based on video recordings and other evidence that the occupying authorities called “conclusive,” although most of it relates to the journalist’s activities on Ukrainian territory.
“According to Russian media, they also accused him of being the PR manager for this battalion. And they found a video somewhere showing him bringing a sack of potatoes to Crimean Tatars in 2015, and they used that sack of potatoes to accuse him of financing terrorism. The lawyer managed to prove that some of the ‘evidence’ simply could not have existed—at that time, Gennadiy was undergoing surgery due to back problems,” a ZMINA source commented on the journalist’s sentence.
The decision to imprison Osmak was handed down by Judge Kirill Sevastyanov, who, prior to the occupation of the left bank of the Kherson region, served as a magistrate in Precinct No. 218 in the Russian city of Tuapse (Krasnodar Krai). On August 12, 2024, he sentenced the journalist to 3 years and 2 months in a maximum-security prison, one year of which Gennadiy must serve in jail.
Later, in January 2025, Judge Oleksiy Pushnoy of the occupation-era Novotroitsk Interdistrict Court upheld the journalist’s conviction. It is known that during the occupation of Crimea, Pushnoy served his mandatory military service in the Internal Troops in Sevastopol, subsequently deserted, and then began serving in the Russian police in the same city. He had no prior judicial experience at the time of his appointment.
Gennadiy Osmak spent over a year in a pretrial detention center in the Chongar district—relatively close to home, which allowed for the delivery of medication, as the journalist has diabetes and serious spinal problems.
“They shocked him with electricity, kept him in the cold, doused him with water; he sat in wet clothes for a week,” our source recounts regarding Osmak’s conditions in the Simferopol pretrial detention center during his transfer.
Currently, Gennady Osmak is being held at Maximum Security Colony No. 6 in the village of Melechovo in the Vladimir region of the Russian Federation—far from his family. According to our source, upon arrival, everything was taken from him, including his medication. It is unknown whether he has access to necessary treatment. In December 2025, it became known that the Russian Federation’s court of cassation had refused to reduce the journalist’s prison term, upholding the decision to serve his sentence in a maximum-security prison. His lawyer will attempt to secure Osmak’s transfer closer to Crimea or the Krasnodar Krai.
“Right now, there is only one goal—for him to survive. He has a little over a year left. What his loved ones are going through is nothing compared to what he himself is going through,” says the source.
This is an automatic translation generated by DeepL.