Death due to a locked shelter: Kyiv polyclinic guard gets 4 years in prison
30 July 2024 15:54
The Desnianskyi District Court of Kyiv found Vadym Moshkin, a security guard at Polyclinic No. 3 in the Desnianskyi district of Kyiv, guilty of leaving people in danger, which led to the deaths of three people. He was sentenced to four years in prison. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The court found the hospital security guard guilty of deliberately leaving people in a life-threatening condition without help and depriving them of the opportunity to take measures to preserve themselves as a result of their helpless state, given the opportunity to help them, which led to the deaths of three people (Part 3 of Article 135 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The prosecutor proved in court that the security guard did not open the door of the shelter during the air raid alert in Kyiv on the night of 1 June 2023, depriving people of the opportunity to save their lives.
“His actions during the rocket attack on Kyiv by the Russian armed forces led to the deaths of three people, including a 9-year-old girl. The sanction of Part 3 of Art. 135 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine provides for a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 3 to 8 years. The death of a young child in accordance with Article 67 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is an aggravating circumstance,” the statement said.
It is noted that the accused did not admit his guilt and did not repent of the criminal offence.
“During the trial, the man constantly changed his testimony about the circumstances of the incident and the reasons why he did not open the shelter (he did not have time, did not hear the alarm, did not see people). In the end, the defendant told the court that the hospital was not equipped with a shelter at all and he was not obliged to open it,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said.
The prosecution requested that the guard be sentenced to six and a half years in prison and is now preparing an appeal to challenge the first instance decision.
The spokesperson for the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office, Iryna Vinokurova, told UP that a case against officials over the same incident is also being considered in court. The proceedings concern 4 people:
- director of the Department of Municipal Security of the Kyiv City State Administration,
- the first deputy head of the Desnianskyi District State Administration in Kyiv,
- director of a medical institution,
- and a deputy director of the hospital.
They are accused of committing official negligence that caused grave consequences (part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
What happened
On the night of 1 June 2023, a 33-year-old woman and a 34-year-old mother with a 9-year-old daughter were killed during another Russian attack in the Desnianskyi district of Kyiv. The shelter they were running to was closed.
According to local residents, not only on that tragic night, but also before, they were repeatedly refused access to the shelter during air raid alerts at night.
As part of the investigation, law enforcement officers detained three officials of the district state administration and a security guard at the medical facility. These are the first deputy head of the Desnianskyi District State Administration, the director of the medical institution and his deputy.
They are charged with negligence that caused grave consequences, and the security guard is charged with leaving him in danger, which led to his death. Earlier, the media reported that the latter might have been drunk during the attack, but this information was refuted by an expert examination.
