KIEV, July 2 (Itar-Tass) - Ukrainian Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko ordered to conduct a performance review of a district police department in the Nikolayev region police, following a crime in which two local law-enforcement officers are implicated.
Zakharchenko said so in parliament on Tuesday, as he was briefing the lawmakers on progress in the investigation into the rape of Irina Krashkova, 29, a resident of the village of Vradiyevka.
"The cause of what happened is irresponsible attitude to the performance of one's duties by the heads and personnel of all levels. All the personnel of the Vradiyevka police station will undergo a new performance review," the interior minister said adding that the incident had damaged the image of the law-enforcement system in general and police in particular. The Ministry is interested in quick and impartial probe into the incident. An Interior Ministry meeting will look into the Vradiyevka event on July 12."
On June 26, three men forced Vradiyevka resident Irina Krashkova, 29, into a car, beat her up and raped. The victim is in the neurosurgery department of the town of Nikolayev. She suffered several skull fractures, cuts and bruises. Despite two surgeries performed on her, she remains in serious condition.
On Monday, a court sanctioned the arrest of two suspects. One of them, a police officer and a relative of a prosecutor from Nikolayev was set free. The local residents, indignant at the outrage committed by police and their impunity, staged a protest action and stormed and seized the local police station on Monday night.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich will supervise the probe, the presidential press service reported on Tuesday.
Yanukovich ordered Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka to confer with the leadership of the Security Council and the Interior Ministry "to examine all the facts of involvement of law-enforcement personnel in illegal actions for evaluating the events, further response and measures to be taken in the future."
On Tuesday, Pshonka fired Vradiyevka district prosecutor Sergei Mochalko for "improper performance of his duties in the supervision over lawfulness during an investigation by interior bodies." The local and regional police chiefs were fired as well.
A commission of the Interior Ministry's central office led by chief of the main headquarters Vladimir Berezan arrived Vradiyevka. "The Interior Ministry is interested in objective and impartial review of all the circumstances of the events and urges people not to yield to the provocations of the politicians who incite to illegal actions," the police said in a report. Criminal proceedings were opened over attack on the Vradiyevo police department. The local mass media said several persons had been injured during the night clash.