As the result of a pre-trial investigation into a criminal organization involved in the illegal mining of amber in Rivne region (the so-called ‘amber mafia’ case), 31 persons were brought to court, 25 of them were sentenced, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has said.
During a trip to Rivne region, Lutsenko said that on February 14, 2017 the pre-trial investigation in this criminal case was completed and the case materials against the six suspects were made available to their defense lawyers, the press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office reported on Tuesday.
Lutsenko said that these suspects include the former deputy prosecutor of Rivne region, the former head of the Sarny regional prosecutor’s office of Rivne region, the former head of the Dubrovytsia department of the Sarny prosecutor’s office, a former employee of the Department for Combating Organized Crime of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine in Zhytomyr region, an investigator of the investigation department of the National Police branch in Rivne region and a senior criminal investigator for high-profile cases of the counterintelligence department of the Security Service of Ukraine in Rivne region.
The prosecutor general said 183 searches were carried out during the pre-trial investigation, during which cash, golden jewelry, weapons, amber, means for amber mining, black ledgers and other incriminating documents were discovered.
“In addition, according to the results of the pre-trial investigation, 31 persons were brought to criminal responsibility. Of them, 25 were convicted by courts, and their sentenced entered into force,” Lutsenko added.
“Unfortunately, I cannot say that the operation has finally put an end to the ‘amber mafia’. At the moment, according to the latest data, this mafia has suffered a serious blow, and the operation to liquidate it continues,” the prosecutor general said.
