Prosecutors uphold conviction of Zaporizhzhia residents who raped young children and produced child pornography on appeal
Following the principled position of the prosecutors of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, the Court of Appeal upheld the sentence of a 49-year-old and a 45-year-old resident of Zaporizhzhia who were found guilty of rape and corruption of minors, as well as production and storage of child pornography (Article 152(4), Article 156(2), Article 301(4), Article 301(5) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, as amended before 2019). The latter was also convicted of gaining access to child pornography (Article 301-1(1) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
They were sentenced to 15 and 11 years in prison respectively. Each of them was also deprived of the right to hold positions or engage in activities related to working with children for a period of 3 years.
In addition, a decision was made to include information about the convicts in the Unified Register of Persons Convicted of Crimes Against Sexual Freedom and Sexual Inviolability of Minors.
It was proved that the men molested and raped an 11-year-old girl, who is the daughter of one of the defendants. They filmed their actions.
In addition, the 45-year-old convict also committed lewd acts and raped a 9-year-old girl with the consent of her mother, with whom he also had sexual intercourse in front of the child. He filmed all this on video, which he then stored on his personal computer.
Due to their age and helpless state, the victims were unable to resist the rapists.
It was also established that the latter had illegally accessed a child pornography website on the Internet, from where he downloaded video files and stored them on his laptop.
The criminal proceedings against the mother were closed due to her death.
The defence appealed against the verdict, requesting that it be cancelled and one of the defendants be acquitted or that the case be sent for a new trial. The other defendant, who fully admitted his guilt, requested that his sentence be reduced.
The Lviv Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal in its entirety and upheld the verdict of the first instance court.
The information policy department of the
of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office