Former deputy head of the Fontansky village council in the Odessa region, Petro Shchyrba, was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for abuse of influence in providing illegal assistance in evading mobilization. The Kominternivskyi District Court made the corresponding decision, 368.media reports.
Shchyrba was detained in 2024 after being given an $800 bribe. Before that, he had already received another $4,000 as part of the same deal. For this money, the official promised to help the conscript obtain a deferment from service, using his connections in the CCC, since he himself headed the mobilization commission of the village council.
However, in reality, the official only imitated activity: he gave the number of the "right person", asked to write only in messengers, invented schemes with fictitious treatment and X-rays, and even issued a fake summons supposedly with the seal of the CCC. However, there was no result, and when the man received a real summons, he realized that he had been deceived and turned to law enforcement.
At the trial, Shchyrba denied the charges. He explained the money he received as a repayment of a debt for renting equipment from 2017 — $12,000, although without any confirmation, except for a personal notebook. He also claimed that he had helped not with the CCC, but with employment at Yugstroy.
The defense called the case a provocation by the SBU and tried to reclassify the crime as fraud, but the court rejected these arguments. Shchyrba was found guilty under Part 2 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of influence) and sentenced to 2.5 years in prison, taking into account the term of previous imprisonment.
The case was considered using evidence of correspondence on WhatsApp and Telegram, where Shchyrba promised: “Everything is under control, there will be a postponement soon.” As practice has shown, this was simply a deception.
