2 Suspects of Murder of 5-Year-Old Ukrainian Boy Released From Prison

02 May 2020 19:13

Hromadske has learned from two sources that two suspects of murdering 5—year—old boy near Kyiv in 2019 have been freed from custody.

Almost one year after a 5-year-old boy was killed near Kyiv, Hromadske learned from two sources that two men suspected of the murder have been released from detention.

"They were released at the beginning of March. They quietly paid their bail and left prison," Oleksandra Tlyavova, the grandmother of the killed Kyrylo Tlyavov, said to Hromadske.

The release of suspects, policeman Volodymyr Petrovets and civilian Dmytro Kryvoshey, was also confirmed by the lawyer of another suspect who's still in custody.

"As soon as their bond amount was lowered, they paid it, and left," lawyer Viktor Chevhuz told Hromadske.

On May 31, 2019, patrol police officers outside duty hours in Kyiv region's Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi town shot a bullet in a place where the five-year-old Kyrylo was playing. The bullet struck the boy's head and, three days later, Kyrylo died from craniocerebral trauma, brain contusion, and fracture of the temporal bone.

The first version offered by law enforcement was that four children walked by a building, and one of them – Kyrylo – slipped and fell. However, doctors later confirmed a bullet wound in the child’s head. Investigators also found shells from Flobert cartridges, as well as glasses and cans, during an additional examination of the scene. According to them, drunk policemen were having fun and shooting at the containers.

READ MORE: 5-Year-Old Boy Wounded by Police Dies

However, another version emerged on June 5 that could mean that the lethal shot was actually fired by the 14-year-old son of Petrovets, as he was reportedly also present at the crime scene at the time of the shooting.

In November 2019, four people were finally handed suspicion notes in connection to the murder. These were the now-released Volodymyr Petrovets, his minor son, civilian Dmytro Kryvoshey, and another police officer Ivan Prykhodko who is still in custody.

In December 2019, the State Bureau of Investigations announced the completion of the pre-trial investigation.

The previously reported bond amount for the men was 273,000 hryvnias (about $10,200). Hromadske is trying to find out how much smaller this amount was made.