Prosecutors from the Chornomorsk District Prosecutor’s Office have sent to court an indictment against four men accused of kidnapping a businessman and extorting money through violence.
This was reported by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
According to the investigation, in April this year two residents of Mykolaiv and two men from Odesa decided to seize the property of a businessman involved in the grain trade. The perpetrators tracked his place of residence and his movements.
Pretending to be law enforcement officers, the attackers forced the businessman into a minibus, put handcuffs and a balaclava on him, and took him to Mykolaiv. A day later he was transported to a private house in Odesa Region. The man was strangled with a rope until he lost consciousness and was cut off from contact with his family.
The kidnappers demanded $360,000 from the businessman for fabricated debts. To force him and his family to pay, the attackers beat the victim with rubber batons, tortured him with electric shocks, squeezed his head with a metal object resembling a vice, and jumped on his limbs, which had been bound with tape. As a result of the abuse, the man suffered fractures to both arms.
Under pressure and threats, the businessman’s wife handed over $152,000 to the attackers, after which the man was released.
The group members will stand trial for kidnapping and extortion committed with the use of violence.