Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs - Sentencing

Sentencing

On February 11, 2009, the court in Dnipropetrovsk found Igor Suprunyuck and Viktor Sayenko guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced both to life imprisonment. Suprunyuck was found guilty of 21 murders, Sayenko of 18." They also received fifteen years sentences after being found guilty on the robbery charges. Alexander Hanzha, who was not involved in the killings, was found guilty of robbery and sentenced to nine years in prison. Suprunyuck and Sayenko were also found guilty on the animal cruelty charges. Hanzha said of Suprunyuck and Sayenko: "If I had known the atrocities that they were capable of committing, I would have not gone near them at gunpoint." The judge stated in the verdict that the main motive for the crimes had been a desire for "morbid self-affirmation". Referring to the accused, the court noted "the poverty of their emotional world, and their absence of interest in people and moral standards".

The court's verdict was several hundred pages long and read out over two days. The lawyers for Suprunyuck and Sayenko announced their intention to appeal, saying that the authenticity of the photographic and video evidence was not established beyond reasonable doubt. The claim was dismissed by Edmund Saakian, a lawyer for one of the victims' families, who commented: "In theory a photo can be faked, but to fake a forty minute video would require a studio and a whole year." Larissa Dovgal, a representative of the victims' families, claimed other perpetrators involved in the crimes could still be at large.

The parents of Igor Suprunyuck and Viktor Sayenko repeated their belief in the innocence of their sons. Vladimir Suprunyuck claimed that Igor had been tortured to extract his confession, with the police covering his head and forcing him to inhale cigarette smoke. Speaking at a televised press conference, he cited irregularities in the investigation, and said that the case against his son was false. Igor Sayenko claimed that his son was a scapegoat, and that the crimes were committed by relatives of senior officials. The parents plan to appeal to the Supreme Court of Ukraine and the European Court of Human Rights. The parents of Suprunyuck and Sayenko also argued that the sentence on Alexander Hanzha was too lenient. An opinion poll conducted in Dnipropetrovsk found that 50.3% of people believed that the sentence was fair, and 48.6% believed that the sentence should have been more severe. In April 2011, a poll found that nearly 60% of Ukrainians wanted the death penalty available for serial killings where judicial error had been ruled out.