Policeman sentenced to 5 years

The Zaliznychnyi Court of Lviv has delivered a verdict in the criminal case against V. Popovych, an operative officer of the criminal investigation department of the line division at Lviv station, for offences under Part 3 of Article 364, Part 1 of Article 190, and Part 1 of Article 355 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The police officer was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment with a ban on holding official positions in law enforcement agencies for two years, as reported by the Lviv portal.

As it turned out, this law enforcement officer did not use his official position for good intentions. In particular, in 2006, by prior agreement with a certain Citizen K., he took out a bank loan in his own name to purchase a mobile phone. According to the agreement, the loan obtained by the policeman was to be repaid by Citizen K. The latter paid part of the loan but refused to pay the rest. In connection with this, the policeman met with him and his mother several times, threatening to use violence against them if K. did not fulfil his obligations to repay the loan.

In addition, V. Popovych, knowing about a criminal case initiated against a Citizen Ye. for the possession of narcotic substances and the selection of a preventive measure for the latter—detention in custody—repeatedly telephoned the detainee’s brother and offered to hand over 1,000 US dollars to him, arguing that he could supposedly resolve the issue of changing the preventive measure to a non-departure undertaking.

Popovych, knowing that the resolution of issues assigned by law to the competence of the investigator during the investigation of a criminal case did not depend on him, and having no relation to the pre-trial investigation in the specified criminal case, met with the brother and mother of the detainee and received 2,000 UAH from them, after which he was detained by officers of the SBU (Security Service) of Ukraine in the Lviv region.