Statement to the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko
S T A T E M E N T
To the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko
To the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine
To the Deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
From Oleh-Volodymyr Ivanovych Sydor, 9 Zankovetskoi St., Zhydachiv, Lviv region: 81700
Copies: SBU, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Constitutional Court of Ukraine, State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, State Department for the Execution of Sentences, Helsinki Union, press
S T A T E M E N T
We demand that a criminal case be opened under the relevant article of the Criminal Code of Ukraine against the heads of the Zhydachiv District Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine (the head of the district department, his deputy, and the head of the criminal department) in the Lviv region for illegal actions against Oleg Rybchak, who is a suspect in a murder.
Using violent methods, the heads of the District Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and their subordinates forced Oleg Rybchak to sign a confession to the murder.
We also demand the opening of a criminal case against the Zhydachiv District Judge O.I. Hali, and the Zhydachiv District Prosecutor’s Office investigators Sharanevych and Chornenkyi, who participated in the falsification of the case against Oleg Rybchak.
We bring to your attention that Oleg Rybchak, BEFORE HE WAS SENT TO THE PRE-TRIAL DETENTION CENTRE (SIZO), did not suffer from any psychiatric illnesses.
We insist that as a result of the unlawful actions of the investigators, Oleg Rybchak ended up in a psychiatric hospital.
We insist that the investigators forced Oleg Rybchak to sign a CONFESSION to the murder in the process of brutal beatings, forced the signing of an admission of guilt, and forced him to pose before a camera on the command of the investigator-expert who was photographing the scene of the crime.
We declare that the investigators forged the character reference and documents regarding the suspect’s education.
When, under moral and physical pressure, Oleg Rybchak signed the documents required by the investigators, the police officers offered O.R. to take the blame for three more crimes, since he would be in prison anyway. In exchange, they promised a ‘sweet life in prison and a camera with prostitutes’.
We also bring to your attention that the relatives—mother and father, grandmother and grandfather who raised their grandson—never received any documents or letters regarding Oleg Rybchak’s treatment by a psychiatrist.
We also bring to your attention that the investigators seized the deceased’s mobile phone from a witness in court, Taras Radyk. It is also known that on that evening, T. Radyk was constantly interested in the deceased’s mobile phone. The phone itself could have been the reason why T. Radyk killed Ihor Maksymiv, which Oleg Rybchak reported to his lawyer, Mr Satanovskyi.
Oleg Rybchak also told his lawyer, Mr Satanovskyi, that the policemen of the Zhydachiv department, Mr Dovbniak, Korystynskyi, and others, forced him by power to sign a necessary paper, which they did not even let him read.
Oleg Rybchak informed his lawyer that I. Maksymiv was killed by Taras Radyk, who for some reason became a witness in court. It is known that Taras Radyk confessed to Oleg Rybchak that he now has the PHONE and asked Oleg to say, when the police came, ‘that it was he (Oleg Rybchak) who did it...’.
We bring to your attention that Oleg Rybchak never refused visits with his relatives, as the investigators and doctors of the psychiatric hospital claim.
We have questions for the Ukrainian judicial and investigative system, for the Ukrainian democratic government:
1. Is it possible that for a month from the moment of Oleg Rybchak’s arrest, his relatives did not know where their underage son and grandson was?
2. Are there LAWS that do not allow an underage suspect in the commission of a crime to receive the right to protection—to a lawyer—for three months?
3. Can the investigative and judicial systems of the Zhydachiv district of the Lviv region deny an underage person visits with relatives for 10 months?
4. Is it possible for a trial to be held against a suspect without the relatives being summoned to court?
5. On the basis of which witnesses and which written evidence in this case was the resolution of the Zhydachiv District Prosecutor’s Office investigator satisfied?
6. Who submitted to the court and to the psychiatric hospital a character reference for Oleg Rybchak stating that he has no education, that he has nightmares, etc.?
7. We want to know, as a result of what did I. Maksymiv’s death occur?
8. What injections are doctors giving Oleg Rybchak today in the psychiatric hospital in Dnipropetrovsk at 84 Checherin St.?
Within the term specified by law, we ask you to inform Oleg Rybchak’s relatives in writing regarding the decisions you have made.
Respectfully, from the relatives of Oleg Rybchak, a resident of Zhydachiv, Lviv region:
Grandfather Oleh-Volodymyr Ivanovych Sydor, Zhydachiv, 9 Zankovetskoi St.
Appendix:
On 15.01.07 in Zhydachiv, Lviv region, near the old car bridge, a murder of citizen I. R. Maksymiv occurred. Oleg Vasylovych Rybchak, born 04.05.89, a resident of Zhydachiv (4 Zankovetskoi St.), was accused of the crime.
By the pre-trial investigation bodies, Rybchak O.V.’s actions were qualified under Part 1 of Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
By the resolution of the Zhydachiv District Court of the Lviv region dated 19 July 2007 (case No. 1-100/07, Zhydachiv District Judge O.I. Hali), according to ACT No. 103 of the inpatient forensic psychiatric examination (hospital at 95 Kulparkivska St., Lviv), medical measures—hospitalisation in a psychiatric institution with strict supervision—were applied to Oleg Rybchak.
According to the ruling of the Lviv Regional Court of Appeal dated 23.10.07, the district court’s resolution entered into legal force.
Act No. 103 was signed by the head of the commission—B.M. Hulchii, members of the commission: A.Z. Malanchuk, V.S. Vakulyk, D.V. Melnyk on the basis of the criminal case and character references for Oleg Rybchak submitted by the Prosecutor’s Office investigators.
Regarding the request of lawyer Volodymyr Lesheha concerning Oleg Rybchak’s health, the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences in the Lviv region answered in outgoing No. 6184 dated 10.09.07 and outgoing No. 7777 dated 14 November 2007: ‘At the present time, as a result of the treatment conducted, there has been an improvement in the mental state, no perceptual disorders are noted, and he does not express delusional thoughts. Head of the SIZO—Colonel B.S. Halchyshyn.’
Outgoing No. 1009/01-43 dated 01.10.2007: To the Head of the Zhydachiv District Legal Consultation Office, Mr Lesheha V.: “In response to your request No. 1408/07 dated 26.09.2007, we inform you that the data cited by you regarding the change in the mental state of Rybchak O.V. after the previously conducted forensic psychiatric examination can be grounds for conducting an additional forensic psychiatric examination on the subject of the mental state of Rybchak O.V.” Acting Deputy Chief Physician for Expertise V.I. Hutsal, executed by A.Z. Malanchuk.
“To the Prosecutor of the Lviv Region, Lviv, 17-19 Shevchenko Ave., from the lawyer of the Zhydachiv District Legal Consultation Office V. Lesheha: “FROM THE MOMENT OF ISSUANCE of the expert examination to the present day, the mental state of the accused citizen Rybchak O.V. has significantly improved, which is confirmed by letters No. 5556 dated 14.08.2007 and No. 6184 dated 10.09.2007 of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences in the Lviv region, where the accused is located to this day. As can be seen from the letter No. 1009/01-43 dated 1 October 2007 of the Lviv Psychiatric Hospital, the specified certificates from the SIZO (pre-trial detention centre) can be grounds for conducting an additional forensic psychiatric examination on the subject of the mental state of citizen Rybchak O.V. at the present time..”
The Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office reviewed the appeal of lawyer Lesheha V., which arrived from the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine No. 16-94-07, and left the decision of the Zhydachiv District Court dated 19 July 2007 No. 1-100/07 without changes. The decision of the Lviv Court of Appeal dated 23.10.07 also remained unchanged. The decision taken cannot be appealed to a higher prosecutor, as the appeals are returned to Lviv from the Prosecutor General’s Office again.
The fact that the investigators forged the case documents is also indicated by the fact that according to Act No. 103 of the Lviv psychiatric hospital, “Oleg Rybchak was transferred from grade to grade with difficulty, finished 9 grades, studied at a vocational school but did not finish,” “emotionally depressed, speaks in separate inverted phrases, reported that he killed a neighbour, ..was angry at him..refused parcels from home,” and so on.
Who wrote such documents is unknown. But Oleg Rybchak has a certificate of secondary education (VK No. 28537414) and a diploma (No. 262542), and was admitted to an institute (certificate No. 687 dated 05 December 2007).
There are statements from witnesses about the bias of the police towards Oleg Rybchak in an earlier suspended sentence. But they were not taken into account then either.
Many years ago in Zhydachiv, Lviv region, police officers were already brought to criminal responsibility. But the methods of interrogation remained as they were then.
Respectfully, Oleh-Volodymyr Ivanovych Sydor