In Drohobych, a 32-year-old local resident has been sentenced to 5 years and 6 months’ imprisonment for desecrating a monument to the victims of Nazi persecution. Prosecutors from the Drohobych District Prosecutor’s Office proved his guilt in committing the offence under Part 3 of Article 297 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The case concerns the monument “Place of execution of peaceful citizens by German fascist invaders, 1941–1945“, located in the centre of Drohobych. At the end of June this year, at night, while on probation for a previous theft, the man leaned with his hands on the almost three-metre-high bronze structure, pushed it, hit it and swore until the monument was completely toppled.
After committing the offence, the perpetrator left the scene, but shortly afterwards police officers established his whereabouts. The man was detained under the procedure set out in Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.
When determining the sentence, the court took into account the unserved part of the term imposed by the previous verdict for theft and determined the final prison term on the basis of the totality of the verdicts. Until the verdict enters into legal force, the convicted man will remain in custody.
The pre-trial investigation in this criminal proceeding was conducted by the Drohobych District Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Lviv Region. The court verdict enters into legal force after the expiry of the time limit for lodging an appeal.