Mykolaiv Central District Court has extended the period of detention for police lieutenant Dmytro Polischuk, who is suspected of committing a crime against Iryna Krashkova of the village of Vradiyevka, Mykolaiv Oblast, until Sept. 27, 2013, the Novosti N online newspaper reported on Thursday.
Thus, the court granted a petition by the prosecutor’s office to extend the period of Polischuk’s detention. The petition was filed in connection with the extension of a pre-trial investigation until Sept. 27.
Polischuk is suspected of committing crimes under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, in particular, Part 2, Article 115 (premeditated murder), Part 3, Article 121 (intentional serious bodily injury), Part 3, Article 153 (forcible unnatural sexual act), Part 4, Article 187 (robbery), Part 3, Article 364 (abuse of power or office), and Part 1, Article 366 (forgery in office).
As reported, on June 26, two police officers and a taxi driver are alleged to have pulled a 29-year-old woman into a car in the town of Vradiyevka Mykolaiv region, and taken her to a nearby forest, where they beat her up and raped her. The victim was hospitalized with fractures of the skull, cuts to the head and face, and multiple severe bruises.
The rape victim told the investigator that she was beaten and raped by two police officers – Lt. Dmytro Polischuk and Lt. Yevhen Dryzhak. She said a local taxi driver, Mykhailo Rabinenko, participated in the beating.
Polischuk and Rabinenko were detained on June 30.
The fact that the second policeman, Dryzhak, who supposedly had an alibi, was not immediately detained triggered protests by local residents who demanded his arrest. On July 1, they stormed the district police department demanding that the police officers involved be prosecuted.
Dryzhak was detained on July 2. On July 3, the court ruled that he be placed under two months detention as a pre-trial restriction measure.
On Aug. 5, the charges against three suspects were changed from causing grievous bodily harm to an attempted murder committed with extreme cruelty with selfish motives, in order to conceal another crime by prior agreement of the parties.
In addition, one of the suspects is charged with carrying out an assault, another two with rape, an assault, as well as committing a number of official crimes.
On Aug. 14, the court also extended the period of detention for Dryzhak, a suspect in crimes committed against Krashkova.
