Six years after Ukraine officially began its police reform the brutality of law enforcement officers remains widespread.
The State Investigation Bureau on Oct. 15 opened multiple probes into police brutality across the country. According to the bureau, in three oblasts – Kyiv, Zhytomyr and Zaporizhzhia – police used force against detainees.
In Zhytomyr, a regional capital 150 kilometers west of Kyiv, a 41-year-old man was beaten with a rubber truncheon in the lobby of a police station by a police officer.
“The victim was diagnosed with a brain injury and bruises across the body,” the bureau reported.
A separate case happened in Zhytomyr Oblast in November 2020.
A police officer stopped a driver for violating traffic rules. After a dispute, both the driver and the passenger were beaten by the police. The police officers that took part in the beating were charged and will appear in court, according to the bureau.
They are looking to up to eight years in prison for abuse of office.
Another case mentioned by the bureau, which took place in regional capital Zaporizhzhia, 500 kilometers south of Kyiv, deals with patrol officers who beat detainees.
Police officers forced a detained man to undress, and after not finding drugs, police officers kept mocking and beating the man.
“They twisted the victim’s ears and fingers, kicked his head, body and legs,” the report said.
A similar situation happened in Kyiv Oblast where a police officer assaulted a driver who violated traffic rules.
Police brutality is an endemic problem in Ukrainian law enforcement.
The reason is impunity at the heart of the law enforcement and justice system, said Denys Kobzin, who leads the Kharkiv Institute of Sociological Research. Police, prosecutors, judges and attorneys view themselves as one team, so they are reluctant to prosecute or testify against each other, said Kobzin.
The rape of a woman in rural Kaharlyk and the fatal shooting of a five-year-old boy in Pereyaslav-Khmelnytsky by drunk police officers have been the most shocking cases of police violence in Ukraine.
In May 2020, Nelya Pogrebytska entered the Kaharlyk police department. She had been summoned as a witness to the burglary of her neighbor’s shop.
During the night of questioning, she was beaten, asphyxiated with a gas mask, threatened with an electric shocker and raped.
The State Investigation Bureau probe concluded that Pogrebytska was one of five victims of Kaharlyk police officers, who used torture to coerce confessions to crimes such as theft.
Two police officers were charged. The case is ongoing.
According to Halyna Kokhan, anti-corruption expert at the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine, the widespread police brutality shows the lack of a concrete reform of the National Police, where bribery, smuggling, and the appointment of relatives of officials to top positions is still in place.
“Ukrainians consider all these cases to have taken place due to the failure of the police reform and widespread corruption,” wrote Kokhan.
As of March, the level of trust in the police was around 41% among Ukrainians. For example, in Finland this figure is 94%, Interfax reported.
