TCK officials from Ivano-Frankivsk region face up to 12 years in prison for torture
Prosecutors from the Ivano-Frankivsk Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Defense Affairs in the Western Region have filed an indictment against the deputy head of one of the territorial recruitment centers and three of his subordinates. The military personnel are charged with torture committed by a group of individuals acting in concert.
This was reported by the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Defense in the Western Region.
Investigators from the Territorial Office of the State Bureau of Investigation in Lviv fully documented the facts of cruel treatment of citizens and the infliction of serious bodily harm upon them.
During the investigation, two large-scale incidents of violence that occurred last year were identified. The first incident occurred in August at a local hospital, where a lieutenant colonel from the Territorial Recruitment Center beat a citizen with a metal police badge in the hallway after the man refused to undergo a fluorography exam; the man was then taken to the military registration and enlistment office, where the torture continued with the use of tear gas. The second incident was recorded in November, when the deputy head of the TCC, with the physical support of his subordinates, brutally beat another victim in the groin, stripped him, continued the abuse in the X-ray room, and left him half-naked on the concrete floor.
As a result of his injuries, the second victim required emergency surgery and underwent a complex operation to remove an internal organ. The suspects in the case were officially notified of the charges against them at the end of November last year. The indictment is currently under review by the judges, and the penalty under the applicable article of the Criminal Code of Ukraine provides for imprisonment of up to twelve years for military personnel.
In Kharkiv, a scheme for illegally smuggling conscripts abroad was uncovered, involving an employee of the Territorial Recruitment Center and a former “Berkut” officer. According to the investigation, they promised to arrange travel to Slovakia for $18,000.
The SBU detained the head of the Medical Examination Commission in Kropyvnytskyi for selling disability certificates.
