Parents found guilty in child abuse case

SALEM, Ore. - A couple accused by their children of abusing them were found guilty of criminal mistreatment late Friday night.

A Marion County jury found Oleksandr Kozlov guilty on nine out of 10 counts of criminal mistreatment in the first degree of his children.

His wife, Lyudmila, was also found guilty on nine out of 10 counts of criminal mistreatment in the first degree.

The judge declared the 10th count a mistrial because the jury didn’t have a lawful verdict.

Their children said they were hit with wires, belts, cords, and sticks by their Ukrainian parents, but the parents said their kids made it all up to avoid following their religious rules.

Oleksandr Kozlov, who during the trial said God was his attorney, took the witness stand in Marion County Court Friday and denied abusing his children, and when asked whether he beat his children with a branch, he said he only used it to scare them.

“I would say it was not a stick. It was a light branch,” he said through a Russian translator.

Oleksandr and his wife said they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs, and members of their Salem Baptist Church - who packed the courtroom Friday - said they believed the kids were lying about being abused.

The children’s Sunday school teacher, who took the stand in the Kozlov’s defense, took a long time to answer a question about whether he would report child abuse.

“I’m going to ask you one more time,” said Courtland Geyer, Marion County deputy district attorney. “Do you have any idea under Oregon law you are a mandatory reporter of suspected child abuse? Yes or no.”

“I will not make a call like that even if I get arrested,” the teacher said, also through an interpreter.

Four of the Kozlov’s seven children went to a payphone to report the abuse to authorities. Prosecutors said one of the couple’s daughters, who is 13, was severely beaten for cutting her hair.

Sentencing for the couple is scheduled for 8:45 a.m., Thursday, Dec. 10.