SBI To Conduct Psychiatric Examination Of Soldier Riabchuk Suspected Of Shooting National Guardsmen

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) intends to conduct a psychiatric examination of a conscript soldier of the National Guard Artemii Riabchuk, suspected of killing four military men, a civilian and wounding five more military men in the territory of the Production Association Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant named after A.M. Makarov (YUZHMASH) in Dnipro.

Director of the State Bureau of Investigation Oleksii Sukhachiov said this at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

Sukhachiov noted that during the interrogation, Riabchuk said that he began military service in his unit in late October 2021.

"According to him, the crime was committed by him on the basis of military hazing in the form of a psychological impact on him by senior soldiers, which began from the end of November 2021 and continued until the moment the crime was committed. This was expressed in a systematic disdain for the suspect and harassment of him through messages to commanders about the violation of the charter by military man during his service, forcing by senior soldiers to perform cleaning work by suspect while having rest on guard duty, which led to exhaustion of his body," Sukhachiov said.

According to him, the suspect explained that directly at the time of the crime he was in an emotional state of eclipse of consciousness and anger, so he was not aware of his actions.

"These circumstances will be checked during a psychological and psychiatric examination," Sukhachiov said.

At the same time, the suspect denied the use of physical violence against him by other servicemen and commanders.

During the examination of the suspect, it was established that he had no bodily injuries, the military man was not in a state of alcoholic intoxication.

The director of the State Bureau of Investigation noted that on February 3, the suspect changed his lawyer and filed an application to retract all the evidence he had given during the pre-trial investigation.

Sukhachev stressed that five servicemen were interrogated as victims, who are still being treated at the moment.

Relatives of the three killed persons, who lived in Dnipro, were interrogated as representatives of the victims.

24 examinations have been appointed.

29 people from among the servicemen and commanders of the military unit were interrogated as witnesses.

11 petitions were sent to the court for permission to conduct inspections of the crime scene, to arrest seized property, and so on.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Riabchuk will not appeal against his arrest.

On January 28, the court arrested Riabchuk.

The soldier faces from 10 to 15 years in prison or life imprisonment.