Mykolaiv's central district court has ordered the detention of three members of the National Police of Ukraine assigned to the Kryve Ozero district office in Mykolaiv region. The men were involved in the murder of a resident of Kryve Ozero, according to the Internet news portal Prestupnosti.NET.

According to the report, at approximately 04:00 p.m. the court began deliberating the pretrial confinement of the first policeman Oleksandr Prychypoida.

During the session, Prychypoida related his version of the events. Around 6.0 p.m. the court remanded him to pretrial custody for one month, until September 25, without bail.

The second suspect, policeman Mykola Khomenko, also testified, saying police handcuffed the deceased resident of Kryve Ozero, Oleksandr Zuckerman, after he had been shot. He added that another suspect, policeman Denys Liakhvatsky, beat the Zuckerman with a truncheon after he had been shot.

The third suspect, Liakhvatsky, refused to testify, complaining of poor health. He was also remanded to pretrial custody without bail for one month.

Liakhvatsky said he agreed with charges pursuant to Article 65 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (exceeding official authority), but categorically disagreed with charges pursuant to Article 115 (premeditated murder), which he vehemently denied.

At approximately 8.50 p.m. the court ordered Liakhvatsky arrested for two months, until October 23.

As earlier reported, on August 24 in Mykolaiv Region's office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine (PGO) said it was investigating the death of a local resident in Kryve Ozero by local police when he was detained by policemen, who used physical force and 'special means' to make the arrest.

The prosecutor's office said, "About 200 local residents gathered outside the police and local PGO office around this time."

Circumstances of the incident became known later. Police responded to a hooliganism complaint involving a drunken man, whom they detained and handcuffed. Another police squad arrived and began beating the detainee. Medical forensic experts noted bruises incurred from the beating, but later said that he died as a result of shots fired from a traumatic pistol. Four bullets were recovered from the victim's body.

Local media made amateur video recordings showing a group of aggressive men attempting to reach the policemen, who were being hurriedly escorted from the Kryve Ozero police station by another group of police officers. Local residents were able to reach and strike at least one of the detained policemen. After the detained policemen were bundled into a holding vehicle, local residents attempted to flip it over.

The deputy prosecutor general of Mykolaiv region Stepan Bozhylo during a briefing on August 25 said that the PGO office of Mykolaiv region had opened a criminal investigation involving three policemen of Kryve Ozero's national police department involved in the scandalous death of a resident of Kryve Ozero. Charges included "premeditated murder" and "exceeding official authority."

Bozhylo said the three men were notified that they were suspected of committing crimes according to Article 3, Paragraph 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. One of them was charged with committing premeditated murder, pursuant to Article 115, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.