Four top police officers in the "porn office" case have been released on bail

Four National Police officers suspected of accepting large bribes in exchange for systematically “protecting” a network of illegal webcam studios and porn offices have been released from pretrial detention. They exercised their right to post bail, with amounts ranging from 1.1 to 7 million hryvnias.

This was reported to Suspilne by the Office of the Prosecutor General.

Law enforcement officials released the names of the high-ranking police officials who were released and returned to their homes. Among them are:

• Volodymyr Yatsyuk — Head of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast;

• Andriy Tkachyk — First Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Ternopil Oblast;

• Ilya Gulevaty — Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Zhytomyr Oblast;

• Serhiy Bezpalko — head of one of the specialized units, who is a key figure in the case.

The court set individual bail amounts for the detained top managers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, with the minimum amount being 1.164 million hryvnias, while for the organizers, the amount reached the maximum limit of 7 million hryvnias. After paying the bail and being released from pretrial detention, the suspects were subject to strict procedural obligations. Specifically, they are required to appear without fail at the first request of an investigator or prosecutor, surrender all foreign passports for safekeeping, refrain from communicating with witnesses, and wear an electronic monitoring device (an electronic ankle bracelet) around the clock.

Currently, only one person involved in this high-profile case remains in custody at the detention center—Vladimir Vorobey, a former driver for the vehicle fleet of a state institution under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Despite the fact that he held the lowest position in the hierarchy among those detained, the court set the highest bail amount for him—8 million hryvnias—which the defense has not yet paid. 

During a large-scale special operation, law enforcement officials detained five participants in the corruption scheme, including heads of regional departments of the National Police of Ukraine.According to the investigation, the suspects were involved in “protecting” the activities of models on internet platforms featuring explicit content. In exchange for various sums of illicit benefits, the officials, according to law enforcement, guaranteed their “protégés” immunity from liability for distributing illegal content.

Among the suspects are the head of the Main Department of the National Police in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, his deputy, the first deputy head of the Main Department of the National Police in Ternopil Oblast, and the deputy head of the Main Department of the National Police in Zhytomyr Oblast.