Cases of torture in the Kaharlyk police department: SBI initiated 50 examinations and conducted over 100 interrogations

On May 24th, based on the materials provided by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), the court issued a verdict regarding two former employees of the Kagarlytska police department in the Kyiv region for the acts of torture, illegal detention, and rape (Article 127, Article 146-1, Article 152 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The court found the two defendants guilty and sentenced the former head of the criminal police (former head of the criminal search sector) and the operative officer of the district department to 11 years of imprisonment.

To ensure justice and fairness, the SBI conducted extensive work during the pre-trial investigation to establish the circumstances of the crimes and obtain indisputable evidence of the suspects' guilt.

It should be recalled that in May 2020, the police officers tortured a woman who had been called to the police station as a witness. They put a gas mask on her, handcuffed her and fired a gun over her head. They then sexually assaulted her several times.

Furthermore, in January 2020, the same defendants, in order to obtain confessions, beat detainees from other cases, took them in the trunk of a car to the outskirts of the city, and tortured them with electric shocks. Then they handcuffed them to a radiator in the corridor, where the victims remained until the next day.

During the investigation into the abuse of the woman, the SBI officers discovered several other cases of torture in the mentioned police department involving other law enforcement officers.

It should be noted separately that the defendants in the case used their professional skills and official capacities to conceal their crimes and the evidence that could be used in court.

Taking into account these circumstances, the SBI conducted:

• Over 100 interrogations of all victims and witnesses.
• 31 identification procedures.
• 9 investigative experiments.
• 9 searches. Nearly 50 expert examinations were also appointed, including forensic medical, ballistic, fingerprint, electro-technical (regarding the telephone device "TA-57" used to torture the victim by passing electric current through the body with a voltage of up to 100 volts), molecular-genetic, forensic-psychological with the use of a polygraph, computer-technical, explosives examination, firearms examination, psycholinguistic examinations (regarding the sanity of the suspects), and other comprehensive investigations.

In addition, SBI officers seized and examined dozens of hours of video recordings from surveillance cameras at the Kagarlytska police station, which captured the movements of the suspects and victims. The entire complex of measures taken by the SBI enabled the prosecution to substantiate and prove the guilt of the suspects.

Based on the investigation materials, the SBI presented indictments against five policemen from the Kagarlytska Police Department on charges of torture, enforced disappearance and rape.

Currently, the court has issued a verdict on two of the defendants, while the material on the remaining three former Kagarlytska District Police officers has been assigned to a separate trial.

Procedural guidance was provided by the General Prosecutor's Office.