You're reading: Kyiv’s Court of Appeals upholds verdict for dog killer Vedula

Kyiv's Court of Appeals has upheld the verdict of the Sviatoshynsky District Court of Kyiv that sentenced homeless dog killer Oleksiy Vedula to four years in prison, the press service of the city's prosecutor's office has reported.

The public prosecutor in this case, Liudmyla Humeniuk, asked the court to reject an appeal lodged by Vedula and his defense lawyer.

“Through our position in court, we have shown the public that this and every similar case of animal abuse will be severely punished. We will not tolerate such cruelty. We will stop even isolated cases,” she said.

The prosecutor noted that the court, when taking a decision, had taken into account all of the circumstances of the case, including those that will help rehabilitate the convict and prevent him and others from committing such crimes again.

“Imprisonment is the proper punishment for Vedula. We consider only such a verdict to be fair and justified,” Humeniuk said.

As reported, in June 2011, employees of the department for combating cybercrime and human trafficking of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s main office in Kyiv arrested Oleksiy Vedula, a 19-year-old student of a vocational school in Kyiv, on suspicion of abusing and killing dogs in Kyiv. He brutally killed more than 100 homeless animals, posting videos of animal abuse on the Internet.

Vedula was sentenced to four years in prison for cruel treatment of animals (Part 1, Article 299 of the Criminal Code) and the distribution of goods promoting violence and cruelty (Part 3, Article 300 of the Criminal Code).