In the Sambir district, an indictment has been submitted to court against a 32-year-old resident of the town of Rudky, who is accused of brutally beating a 61-year-old acquaintance. This was reported by the Sambir District Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the investigation, at the end of May this year, near one of the villages in the Sambir district, the accused encountered a man from this village. After a brief verbal altercation, he struck him with a baseball bat in the neck area and on the head.
From the blow, the victim fell to the ground, but the attacker, according to the investigation, continued to beat him on the head and chest both with the bat and with his feet. The man filmed his actions on his phone, commented on the beating and mocked the victim, and later posted the video on his Instagram page.
After some time, the victim regained consciousness and managed to get home. The next day, when his condition deteriorated sharply, he asked a neighbour to call emergency medical services. Doctors diagnosed him with a severe chest injury with rib fractures, a closed craniocerebral injury, as well as multiple fractures of the bones of the skull and face.
Soon afterwards, law enforcement officers detained the suspect under Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. During procedural actions, the man exercised his right under Article 63 of the Constitution of Ukraine and refused to testify or explain the motives for his actions. He is charged with intentional grievous bodily harm under Part 1 of Article 121 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The Prosecutor’s Office notes that this man has previously been held liable for a crime against a person’s life and health. In 2011, when he was 17 years old, while intoxicated he beat a woman to death and hid her body in a public toilet, for which he was sentenced to 9 years’ imprisonment. Legally, he is currently considered to have no criminal record.
At present, the accused is being held in custody. The pre-trial investigation in these proceedings was carried out by the Sambir District Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Lviv region.
Pursuant to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and may not be subjected to criminal punishment until his or her guilt has been proven in the manner prescribed by law and established by a guilty verdict of a court.