The detention of a border guard from Izmail, who was arrested for taking a bribe, has been extended

A court in Odesa has extended the detention of a border guard from Izmail who is suspected of bribery and smuggling conscripts abroad. He will remain in custody until at least October 10, 2026, unless he posts bail of more than 2.1 million hryvnias.

This is stated in a ruling by the Kyiv District Court of Odesa.

If bail is posted, the suspect will be required to surrender his passport, appear when summoned by investigators and the court, wear an electronic monitoring device, and refrain from communicating with witnesses in the case.

The investigating judge found the prosecutor’s arguments regarding the risks of the suspect absconding from the investigation and illegally influencing witnesses to be well-founded. It was noted that, given his service near the border, the suspect may be familiar with methods of illegally crossing it. 

According to the investigation, the suspect, a border guard inspector, together with unidentified individuals, devised a scheme to help men of draft age evade mobilization. The scheme involved falsely enrolling these individuals as crew members on foreign-bound “river-sea” vessels.

To carry out the scheme, the accomplices organized fictitious training at one of the seafarer training and simulation centers and produced forged qualification documents. The documents obtained served as the basis for adding these individuals to the ship’s crew list and enabling them to cross the border unimpeded.

The suspect was detained after receiving a payment of 6,000 U.S. dollars.

As previously reported by Intent, in Kodim, a local attorney—who had been appointed by the state to provide pro bono legal assistance to the defendant—attempted to bribe a judge and a prosecutor. The court found him guilty and imposed a fine.

Юлія Калабайда