In Poltava, an official has been sentenced to five years in prison for demanding 25% of the income from transporting fallen soldiers and 1,000 hryvnias for each burial.
The Prosecutor General’s Office reported this.
The court found guilty an official at the Poltava City Council’s municipal funeral and ritual services enterprise, who systematically demanded money from an entrepreneur in exchange for the ability to provide funeral services without obstruction.
The official’s guilt in court was proven by prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Poltava District Prosecutor’s Office.
He demanded 25% of the income from transporting fallen soldiers. Separately, the cemetery director demanded a monthly payment of 1,000 hryvnias for each burial of a serviceman.
In effect, he made the entrepreneur’s work dependent on the regular payment of a portion of the money earned.
Law enforcement officers detained the official during another receipt of an unlawful benefit. In July 2023, prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General sent the indictment to court.
The court sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment, with confiscation of half of his property and a three-year ban on holding certain posts (Part 3, Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
- The pre-trial investigation was carried out by investigators from the National Police’s Main Investigation Department, with operational support from the Strategic Investigations Department in Poltava Region.
- The first-instance court ruling may be appealed. Until it enters into legal force, the presumption of innocence applies.