Vradiyivka victim’s lawyers seek attempted murder charges against police officers
Iryna Krashkova after the attack
The lawyers of Iryna Krashkova, the young woman from Vradiyivka in the Mykolaiv oblast brutally raped and left for dead, believe that the case should be reclassified as attempted murder.
They have lodged the relevant procedural documents with the Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office. They say that the change in the charges is warranted in the light of the testimony given both by the victim herself, and by one of the suspects.
The Prosecutor has classified the actions as an assault linked with robbery with serious injuries and rape.
Iryna Krashkova was raped and savagely beaten on 26 June, after leaving a local discotheque. She managed to drag herself to the town and was taken to emergency care.
She named her assailants as two officers of the local police station. One was arrested, together with the taxi driver who apparently did not take part in the rape, however the other – Yevhen Dryzhak – claimed that he had been on duty that night.
The local population say that both officers’ actions have been known for a long time, and a huge crowd stormed the police station where they believed Dryzhak was being shielded by colleagues.
The level of protest and enormous publicity the case gained in Ukraine and abroad led to Dryzhak also being arrested.