Seven people sentenced to prison for the death of a Ukrainian in a Polish sobering-up centre
6 June 2024 16:20
A trial was held in Wroclaw, Poland, against seven people involved in the death of 25-year-old Ukrainian citizen Dmytro N. in July 2021. The defendants included police officers, medical staff from the Wroclaw Centre for the Care of Intoxicated Persons, and an ambulance doctor. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to pap
According to the case file, the events unfolded as follows: on 30 July 2021, the police were called to a drunk man at a bus stop in Wroclaw. At the scene, paramedics did not find a need for hospitalisation, so the police took 25-year-old Dmytro N. to a local sobering-up centre.
However, the situation got out of hand there. According to the prosecution, three policemen, two employees of the centre and a doctor exceeded their authority and used excessive force against Dmitriy N. He was beaten, strangled, pinned to a bed and hit with a baton. The man died of suffocation on the spot, despite resuscitation measures.
Investigators concluded that the actions of the defendants were coordinated and led to the death of a legally defenceless victim from physical violence and strangulation.
The court found the seven defendants guilty of reckless homicide and sentenced them to 1.5 to 5 years in prison. Two former police officers received the harshest sentences – 5 years in prison each. The doctor was sentenced to 3 years. Two employees of the sobering-up centre were acquitted.
Here’s how it went down
Dmytro N. is Dmytro Nikiforenko, who came to work in Poland from Nemyrov, Vinnytsia region. He worked as a steel repairman.
on 30 July 2021, in the evening, Dmytro was returning from a celebration with other Ukrainian migrant workers. Drunk, he fell asleep on the bus, and when the other Ukrainians got off, he was travelling alone. At the final stop, the driver was unable to wake him up and called the police and an ambulance.
According to testimonies and CCTV footage, the police falsely accused Dmytro of aggressive behaviour. In fact, he was calm and only drunk. Before taking him to the sobering-up centre, the police used a gas canister against him.
In the centre for drunken people, Dmitriy was severely beaten. He was punched in the face, choked, pushed to the bed with a truncheon, and restrained with belts. Eventually, he lost consciousness and died on the spot, despite attempts at resuscitation. After the Ukrainian’s death, the police tried to conceal the details of the incident, telling his relatives only that he had suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.
The investigation into the circumstances of Nikiforenko’s death began only after the media published a report a month after the tragedy.
