The wife of the convicted Hrodna policeman believes that the case was fabricated, and the persecution is revenge for principled stance.
The police officer was advised to “forget” recruiters into Donetsk People’s Republic.
The case of Mikhail Kutsko lasted for almost a year. Before being investigated in January 24, 2017, the former lieutenant of the Hrodna police managed to give Belsat a video with his story.
Mikhail Kutsko served in the department of drug control and countering trafficking in human beings of the Hrodna criminal police. He has numerous letters and awards for the disclosure of crimes related to the spread of pornography, pedophilia and human trafficking. As Mikhail Kutsko said in the video, last year, he received a message from his sources that an officer of the Border Guard Committee had access to illegal military formations of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic”.
After the former lieutenant reported this to his leadership, he was told by the head of the criminal police to forget about the matter. However, Mikhail decided to bring the information to the attention of the State Security Committee, to which his immediate leadership threatened him with dismissal.
As a result, Mikhail Kutsko was fired “for absenteeism.” After the dismissal, Mikhail Kutsko found another job and for a while was deputy director of one of the tourist companies in Hrodna. On January 20, 2017, he was summoned to clear up additional circumstances in the case of Alena B., after which the former policeman was arrested for “taking a bribe”.
As it later turned out, before the incident, Mikhail Kutsko was investigating a case of online distribution of pornography involving a girl, who turned out to be an inspector for affairs with minors in Shchuchyn. Alena B. is also the daughter of a judge.
Mikhail’s civil wife, Natalia, said that Mikhail was asked to close the case, Alena B. offered a bribe to the former policeman, which he rejected.
Six months after the arrest of Kutsko, the investigators, because of lack of evidence in the case of Alena B., found another woman who accused the former policeman of taking bribes. As a result, Kutsko was acquitted in relation to the articles of the first case.
The former lieutenant received the sentence in the second case, although he presented the witness who confirmed that Mikhail was on the job while ‘taking bribes’ and was investigating a drug-related case.
The verdict pronouncement was postponed for about a month. The last court hearing was held on January 3, where Mikhail Kutsko was sentenced to 3 years in a strong-security penal colony with confiscation of property.
“To be honest, we secretly hoped that he would be acquitted, that we still have a humane court, I’m glad that he did not get 8 years, as promised. Misha was pleased. After all, he said that he would be sentenced anyway. It’s a shame that because of the confiscation of property, the family now has to do without a television set and without a microwave. It was my property, which was arrested in the name of Mikhail. The prosecutor will appeal the verdict, he will protest,” wife of Mikhail Kutsko Natalia commented on the sentence.
Since Kutsko has already spent a year in prison, the term was reduced to 2 years. Natalia hopes for an amnesty that will shorten the term for another year of imprisonment.
Paulina Valish / photo – Vasil Mauchanau, belsat.eu
