You're reading: Pshonka dismisses district prosecutor in Mykolaiv region following heinous rape case

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka dismissed on Tuesday prosecutor of Vradiivka district of Mykolaiv region Serhiy Mochalko following the events surrounding a rape case involving two law enforcement officers in the village of Vradiivka.

Mochalko was fired for the improper performance of his duties of supervision over legality of the investigation by law-enforcement agencies, the press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office reported.

On June 26, three men pulled a 29-year-old woman into a car in the village of Vradiivka, took her to the forest near the village of Syrove, where they beat her up and raped her. The victim was hospitalized with open fractures of the skull, cut wounds to the head and face, multiple bruises and hematomas. She has had two surgeries, and her condition is regarded as serious.

The rape victim told the investigator that she was beaten and raped by two police officers – Lt. Dmytro Polischuk and Lt. Yevhen Dryzhak. A local taxi driver participated in the beating.

Polischuk and the taxi driver were detained. Dryzhaka, according to law enforcers, has an alibi – he supposedly was on duty at the police department at the time of the crime.

The fact that the second policeman was at large has triggered protests by local residents who demanded his immediate arrest. On July 1, they were storming the district police department demanding the police officers involved be prosecuted.