Final Verdict for Ex-Officers in Rape Case
Ukraine's Supreme Court has upheld the 11-year prison sentences for two former police officers convicted of rape, torture, and other crimes in the town of Kaharlyk. The case stems from events in May 2020. This ruling represents a significant test of judicial accountability for law enforcement abuses in the country.
Attorney Anna Kalynchuk confirmed the final decision. The Prosecutor General's Office clarified that the two former officers from the Kaharlyk police department were found guilty of torture, enforced disappearance, and rape. The convicted are the rapist and his superior, the head of the criminal police unit for the precinct, who received their initial 11-year sentences in May 2023.
Incident Details and Aftermath
The incident occurred on May 24, 2020, after a woman, born in 1994, reported to a Kaharlyk hospital that she had been beaten and raped, allegedly by police officers. The officers were detained, and on May 26, a court arrested two suspects for the rape of the woman and the beating of a man.
Five individuals were initially suspected in the case:
- Mykola Kuziv
- Serhiy Sulyma
- Serhiy Panasenko
- Yevhen Trokhymenko
- Yaroslav Levandiuk
Yaroslav Levandiuk was released under house arrest on October 27. National Police Chief Ihor Klymenko dismissed the officers suspected of the crime, suspended the department's leadership, and ordered the disbanding of the unit. The entire staff of the Kaharlyk police department was also ordered to undergo recertification.
The investigation revealed that officers from the Kaharlyk police department had tortured and illegally detained people to solve crimes. In January 2020, three officers, seeking confessions for thefts, inflicted bodily harm on two victims, whom they transported in a car trunk to the city outskirts. They used electric shocks and then handcuffed the victims to a radiator in a corridor, where they remained until the next day.
Furthermore, in May 2020, to extract a confession, one victim was struck 17 times with hands and feet. One of the law enforcement officers, in his service office, tortured a woman summoned as a witness. He put a gas mask on her, applied handcuffs, fired his service weapon over her head, and then raped the victim multiple times.
Attorney Anna Kalynchuk stated: 'Their sentence was 11 years from the very beginning, and it remains 11 years. The next step is for the state of Ukraine to pay the victim moral compensation for the crime committed by law enforcement officers. We have achieved justice in this case, having prevailed in all courts at all levels. The decision has stood, and the convicted are already serving their sentences.'
This case attracted significant public attention and became a symbol of deep-seated problems within Ukraine's law enforcement system. The Kaharlyk incident proved not merely an episode of violence but a stark example of systemic failures in police oversight, prompting calls for reform of law enforcement agencies. The importance of just punishment for such crimes underscores the necessity of strengthening public trust in the police and the judicial system as a whole.