Over the past year and a half, 14 law enforcement officers have been convicted in the Chernihiv region

During 2013-2014, some Chernihiv “law enforcement officers” took bribes, engaged in fraud, theft, inflicted bodily harm, sold drugs, hooliganism and even raped. Such data was obtained by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights.

On June 26, the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Ukrainian public activists are appealing to the newly elected President of Ukraine with a demand to conduct an independent, objective, effective and prompt investigation of all human rights violations during the Euromaidan, as well as to create an independent mechanism for investigating crimes committed by law enforcement officers.

As the international human rights organization Amnesty International emphasizes, if the Ukrainian authorities do not conduct an effective investigation into allegations of human rights violations by police officers and do not bring the perpetrators to justice in a transparent and non-politicized manner, there is a risk that public trust will be undermined again and the atmosphere of impunity will strengthen, which will lead to further abuses.

At the same time, in 2013 and in 5 months of 2014, the prosecutor’s office of the Chernihiv region received 82 applications regarding the use of violence, torture, and humiliation of human dignity by law enforcement officers. But as a result, almost no police officers in the region were convicted under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code.

According to the regional prosecutor’s office, in 2013, trials were initiated in 13 criminal cases against employees of “law enforcement agencies”, 12 of which were against police officers, and in 5 months of 2014 – against 5 more law enforcement officers.

As a result of trials in 2013 and 5 months of 2014, 14 law enforcement officers (13 of them were police officers) were brought to criminal responsibility in the Chernihiv region.

In particular, among law enforcement officers, there were convicted of bribery, fraud, theft, hooliganism, drug trafficking, rape, abuse and abuse of power.

Human rights activists state that the number of “law enforcement officers” who, instead of protecting the law, use their position in the ranks of the “state armed body of executive power” for their own illegal enrichment, unfortunately, is not decreasing. Obviously, it makes sense not only to increase the indicators of exposing criminals-police officers, but also to change the situation at the systemic level, so that their number significantly decreases.