In Odesa, police detained a 23-year-old man who desecrated the State Flag of Ukraine and stole from a currency exchange office, UNN reports.
According to law enforcement officers, yesterday around midnight on European Square, a stranger set fire to blue and yellow flags and made incomprehensible statements near a large flag.
During the inspection of the scene, police seized more than 50 fragments of flags with thermal damage. The offender was taken to the territorial police unit to establish his identity and all the circumstances of the crime. The offender was a 23-year-old resident of Odesa. According to the latter, he set fire to the flags in memory of the fallen defenders, as he prayed for peace in Ukraine.
Previously, the young man had already been brought to administrative responsibility for smoking tobacco products and drinking alcohol in prohibited places. He also violated the curfew, for which the law still does not provide for liability.
In addition, the police found that the same young man was involved in a theft at an exchange office on Rishelievskaya Street, which was reported by the staff of the institution yesterday afternoon. While in the exchange office, the young man noticed a tablet device on the wall for customers to calculate the amount of money exchanged, tore it off and fled. The police are currently establishing the location of the stolen property.
The offender's actions are classified under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- Part 1 of Art. 338 (desecration of state symbols);
- Part 4 of Article 185 (theft committed under martial law).
The suspect was detained in accordance with Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. The issue of serving him a notice of suspicion and choosing a measure of restraint is being settled.
Under current law, the offender faces up to eight years in prison.
Within the framework of the initiated proceedings, a number of examinations will be ordered, including those to determine the offender's sanity.
The investigation is ongoing under the procedural supervision of the Prymorskyi District Prosecutor's Office of Odesa.