Following a public prosecution by prosecutors of the Prosecutor General’s Office, a member of the Parliament of the VI convocation from the Party of Regions and two former police officers – the head of the public security police and the deputy commander of the Kyiv Berkut – were sentenced to 5 years in prison. In addition, the ex-law enforcement officers were deprived of their special rank of ‘police colonel’.
The court found them guilty of abuse of office with the use of violence, incitement to national hatred and humiliation of national honor and dignity (Article 27(4), Article 28(2), Article 365(2), Article 161(2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Prosecutors proved in court that in April 2010 in Kyiv, the ex-MP organized an exhibition entitled “Volyn Massacre – Polish and Jewish Victims of the OUN-UPA” with the aim of inciting national hatred. When visitors to the exhibition expressed their position on the events, the MP called on law enforcement officers to use physical force and insulted those present for their beliefs.
The police, exceeding their authority, used violence and detained 13 people, drawing up administrative reports against them. The court later found the detainees not guilty.
Since the defendants had been hiding for a long time in the territory of the aggressor state and the occupied territories of Ukraine, the trial was held in absentia.
These law enforcement officers are also being prosecuted for committing serious crimes during the 2013-2014 protests, and the case is ongoing.
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