Defense of policeman who killed BMW passenger in Kyiv demand objective court trials
Defense team of inspector of the Kyiv patrol police department Serhiy Oliynyk, who was shooting at the BMW car while chasing it on streets of Kyiv at the night of February 6-7, demanded to correctly qualify actions of their defendant, as well as to hold an objective hearing of his case as a precedent.
Oliynyk's lawyer, Rostyslav Pukalo at a press conference in the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Monday said his defendant recognized that the bullet which fatally wounded BMW passenger was shot from his gun. At the same time, the lawyer said the prosecution silenced the facts that warning shots were fired and there was an attempt to murder the second policeman.
Pukalo said his defendant was entitled to regard the situation as a life threat to his partner, who actually got under the wheels of the BMW car.
Pukalo also stressed that the prosecution wrongly qualified Oliynyk's actions, as there was no intent of murder.
He said the defence would request various expert assessments to establish the truth in this case. Pukalo also said he expected a court to hear the appeal against Oliynyk's arrest next week.
In his turn, defense team's lawyer Serhiy Mitiurin said that "actions aimed at discrediting the police reform overall, and not only Oliynyk" were taking place.
As reported, on February 19 Kyiv's Pechersky district court arrested Serhiy Oliynyk until April 18.
Earlier Ukraine's Deputy Prosecutor General, Chief Military Prosecutor, Anatoliy Matios, said the suspicion with regard to power abuse was announced to Oliynyk.
The prosecution recalled that the criminal case regarding the death of a BMW car passenger during a patrol police hunt was opened under Article 365, Part 3 (power abuse) and Article 115, Part 1 (attempted murder) of Ukraine's Criminal Code.
On February 7, 2016, Kyiv policemen used weapons to detain the BMW car driver who provoked a chase on the streets of Kyiv. As a result, the passenger of the car was fatally wounded. Police officers involved in the pursuit and the detention were suspended from duty for the time of investigation.