Odesa Law Academy student sentenced to reading for trying to smuggle a man abroad

The Yavoriv District Court of Lviv Region has found an underage first-year student of the National University of Odesa Law Academy guilty of organizing a smuggling operation for a man liable for military service.

This was reported by Lviv.media with reference to the verdict published in the Unified Court Register of Court Decisions.

According to the case, in the summer of 2025, a student found a man liable for military service and offered him a free passage to Poland. The student promised to prepare a package of documents for the client, which would allow him to cross the border.

The organizer of the scheme was detained in late September while receiving $5.9 thousand from the client at a WOG gas station near Lviv. At the trial, he pleaded guilty in full and said that he organized the smuggling for money to pay for his education.

He learned from social media that there was a company that prepared documents for traveling abroad. So he had to help the client to prepare documents for traveling abroad through the firm. When he met with the client, he gave him a flash drive with the documents, asked him a few questions, and gave him the money right in his hand. It was one installment of 5.9 thousand dollars, and after that they were detained by the Security Service of Ukraine.

The court took into account that the student was a minor at the time of the crime, was positively characterized at his place of study, and was helping the military. As a result, he was found guilty of the crime and placed on probation for two years. In addition, the court ordered the defendant to read Violina Sytnik's book Masks of Other People's Roles so that he would not commit any acts that could lead to offenses in the future.

The practice of sentencing offenders to read books is not unique to the Yavoriv court. For example, in Odesa, Judge Oleksandr Garskyi is known for this practice.

Кирило Бойко