Death of a Ukrainian in a sobering-up center. A court in Wrocław issued a verdict in a famous case

On Friday, the Court of Appeal in Wrocław sentenced 7 people, including former policemen, guardians and a doctor, to terms ranging from 6 months in prison to a year, suspended for 2 years, in the death of 25-year-old Ukrainian citizen Dmytro N. in the Wrocław Center for Assistance to Intoxicated Persons. The judgment is final.

The court ruled that three former police officers and guardians exceeded their powers in the use of direct coercive measureswhich should be used in proportion to the degree of threat, and thus unintentionally caused the death of a 25-year-old man at the Wrocław Center for Assistance to Intoxicated Persons.

The court found a doctor from the Wrocław Center for Assistance to Intoxicated Persons guilty of exposing Dmytro N. to a direct threat of loss of life. According to the court, the doctor decided to use direct coercive measures against the 25-year-old and left the room where Dmytro N., the police and his guardians were.

– She did not react to the violence used against him, which consisted of pressing his head against the bed mattress, pressing the victim's lower back with her knee, hitting the lumbar, head and shoulder girdle with her fist and hand – said judge Andrzej Kot.

He added that the doctor did not decide to stop using violence against N. and failed to assess his health condition. – As a result, she unintentionally caused the death of the injured party as a result of violent suffocation – said the judge.

The court imposed the most severe penalties – one year in prison – against two former policemen, a doctor and a paramedic guardian from the Wrocław Center for Assistance to Intoxicated Persons. The others, including two former police officers and an employee of the Wrocław Center for Assistance to Intoxicated Persons, were sentenced to three to six months in prison. All sentences were suspended for two years. Two employees of the sobering-up center were acquitted.

The doctor's ban on practicing medicine was also upheld. The court also decided that the six convicts should pay compensation to the family of Dmytro N, PLN 50,000 each. PLN each.

The court reduced the sentence

The sentences passed on Friday in the appeal are lower than those imposed by the court of first instance. In June 2024, the District Court in Wrocław sentenced the defendants to prison terms ranging from 1.5 years to 5 years. – The court cannot accept the sentence imposed in the first instance, these were the most severe penalties (…), the penalty cannot exceed the degree of guilt, and the penalties from the first instance exceed this degree – said judge Andrzej Kot, justifying the judgment.

Judge Kot emphasized that in terms of establishing the facts, the case was not particularly complicated because the event was recorded by surveillance. – The legal assessment of what happened was more complicated. We have no doubts that the accused exceeded their powers (…); Police officers and employees of the Wrocław Center for Assistance to Intoxicated Persons have the right to use coercive measures and they used these powers, but they exceeded them and used violence inappropriate to the threat – said the judge.

The judge emphasized that the defendants, with the exception of the former policewoman, unintentionally caused the death of a 25-year-old man. – There was no abuse of the injured party, these were not actions dictated by the torment of the injured party – the judge noted.

The events described in the indictment took place on July 30, 2021. The police were notified by ambulance paramedics called to intervene at an MPK stop in Wrocław. According to the services, the drunk man was aggressive. There were no indications that he would have to go to hospital, so the officers took him to a sobering-up center, where 25-year-old Dmytro N. died. A Ukrainian citizen was beaten, strangled, and a baton and gas were used against him. According to the defendants' testimony, the 25-year-old man was aggressive, attacked police officers and guardians, and did not obey orders. He also bit the rescuer's finger. That's why they tried to fasten it in the so-called belts on the bed, but during these activities a sudden cardiac arrest occurred and despite resuscitation, the Ukrainian died – according to the testimony given during the investigation and maintained by the defendants during the first-instance trial.

The investigation into this case was ultimately led by the District Prosecutor's Office in Szczecin. According to the prosecutor's office, “three police officers and two guardians – paramedics in the room of the Wrocław Center for Assistance to Intoxicated Persons in Wrocław exceeded their powers in the use of direct coercive measures.” According to investigators, they acted together and in concert. (PAP)

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