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Ukrainian police chief hires hitman for Austria

A former Ukrainian police chief goes on trial on Wednesday in Vienna for attempted murder, after he allegedly ordered a Georgian assassin to kill his former business partner in Austria.

Ukrainian police chief hires hitman for Austria
The intended victim was to be shot in the head. Photo: Augustas Didžgalvis

The 37-year-old Ukranian businessman, who was associated with the secret Security Service of Ukraine as well as working as a chief of police, allegedly hired the hit man to carry out an execution with a shot to the head of his former Austrian associate.

According to media reports from Austrian state broadcaster ORF, in 2003 a Viennese import-export entrepreneur had conducted shady business transactions with an ethnic Russian partner, which should have earned him commissions of up to €230,000.  

Because the Ukranian business man didn't want to pay the money, his Austrian ex-partner threatened to inform the Ukrainian police about large-scale tax frauds of which he was aware, that would implicate the former police chief.

To prevent this outcome, the accused is alleged to have visited the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk in 2004, where he hired a hit man.  He passed on a photograph of the Viennese man, as well as his address, and asked the assassin to kill the target with a head shot.

Instead of carrying out the hit, the alleged killer instead went to the police.  The former Ukrainian cop was then arrested based on an international arrest warrant issued by Austrian justice officials, and brought to Vienna for trial.

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CRIME

Austria investigates 17 teens for alleged sexual abuse of girl

Austrian authorities on Friday said they were investigating 17 teenagers - including 12 minors - over the alleged months-long sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl in Vienna last year.

Austria investigates 17 teens for alleged sexual abuse of girl

The alleged offences took place in a disadvantaged area of the capital’s south “between February and June 2023, in toilets, garages, a hotel and in the perpetrators’ homes”, Florian Finda, deputy director of the Vienna police, told a news conference.

The suspects in the rare case – most of whom are aged between 14 and 18 – are of Bulgarian, Italian, Serbian, Syrian and Turkish origin.

Two of them are under 14 and therefore below Austria’s age of criminal responsibility.

The suspects – almost all of whom were known to police for other offences – are accused of serious sexual abuse of a minor, including the pornographic depiction of the abuse of a minor.

Thirteen suspects were questioned on Thursday, with some of them partially denying the allegations.

The suspects and the Austrian victim met through one of the accused, with whom the then 12-year-old is said to have made out with.

She was then introduced to the rest of the group.

The boys allegedly exchanged videos and photos of the abuse via social networks including WhatsApp chats, with one of them allegedly threatening to share the pornographic material.

According to the police, none of the material was made available to the wider public.

In October, the young girl, now 13, informed her mother, who subsequently filed a complaint.

The ongoing investigation is due to be transferred to the public prosecutor’s office.

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