Accused of witchcraft, beaten and wanted to take them to the forest: a man and a woman who tortured a neighbor will be tried in Khmelnytsky Oblast

In the Khmelnytsky region, a man and a woman beat, strangled and struck a 68-year-old villager because she allegedly "performed witchcraft rituals." The case of the perpetrators was referred to the court, UNN reports with reference to the Khmelnytsky Regional Prosecutor's Office.

"... an indictment against a 27-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman was sent to the court on the facts of torture, threats of murder, illegal deprivation of liberty and violation of the inviolability of the home (part 2 of article 127, part 1 of article 129, part 2 of article 146, part 1 of article 162 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)," the statement said.

Details

The events took place on July 7 this year in the village of Chotyrboky, Shepetivka district.

It was established that while being drunk, the defendants came to the house of a 68-year-old resident of the same village, started knocking on the windows and broke down the door.

Under the false pretext that the victim was allegedly performing witchcraft rituals, they beat her with their fists and kicked her in the head, strangled her, threatened to kill her, and even inflicted several stab wounds.

Ignoring the latter's pleas to stop the abuse, the man punched her in the face once again, causing her to lose consciousness. After that, the perpetrators put her in the trunk of a car to take her to a forest belt and continue torturing her.

"... when the defendants broke into the house, the victim managed to call law enforcement officers, who detained the offenders," the prosecutor's office added.

Note: Pursuant to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and shall not be subjected to criminal punishment until his or her guilt is proved by law and established by a court verdict of guilty.