Case description
On May 30, 2023, the HACC convicted former SSU officers Volodymyr Cherniak and Oleksandr Muzykin, who extorted money from representatives of private enterprises for not interfering with their activities. Both were sentenced to 8 years in prison.
The defendants in the case are Oleksandr Muzykin, former head of the first sector of the department for counterintelligence protection of the national interests in the field of economic security of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Vinnytsia region, and his deputy, Volodymyr Cherniak.
In September–December 2016, they demanded that two representatives of private enterprises pay a USD 50,000 bribe so that the former do not interfere with their activities. Muzykin and Cherniak also promised to influence the decision of the Kyiv police investigator to close the criminal proceedings and return the company's property that was seized during the search.
Subsequently, the SSU officers asked for another USD 2,000 per month for not interfering with the companies' business activities. In March 2017, the defendants received half of the bribe through an intermediary.
Muzykin and Cherniak were charged under Article 368, part 4 and Article 369-2, part 3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The court sentenced them to 8 years in prison with confiscation of half of their property and a 3-year ban on holding positions in law enforcement agencies. The appellate instance upheld the decision.
