A court in Odesa oblast has convicted a woman involved in voter bribery. Kiliia Raion Court has issued a guilty verdict against a citizen of Kiliia for a repeated voter bribery and convicted her to 5 years and 6 months in prison, and deprived her of the right to be involved in any activities related to an election process.

On 3 December, Odesa Oblast Prosecutor's Office published a statement, saying: “Prosecutors in Odesa oblast have supported the accusations against a female citizen, suspected in violation of electoral legislation (Article 160 (2,4) of the CrCU).”

It was revealed through the investigation that the citizen was involved in voter bribery in support of a political party right before election of city head and councilors in Kiliia City United Territorial Community in April this year. The woman promised 600 UAH if they vote for a candidate nominated for city head by this party, particularly 200 UAH before and 400 UAH after the voting. However, her “business” didn't succeed as she was caught red-handed on the election day, while she was giving out money and checked off the voters enlisted in her notebook. The notebook was taken away from her right at the polling station, and the police arrived. It's curious that the woman was interrogated in a police department by a competitor of the candidate, whom she was “supporting”. He also called people from her list by himself.

Then-head of raion council Pavlo Boichenko, who had won the election and became the head of community, called by the numbers enlisted in woman's notebook, asking his fellow citizens whether they really received money for their votes. Another interesting fact is that he proposed 5 thousand UAH for anyone who brings him the guilty.

As a result, the case became known and the party, on behalf of which the women bribed voters, affirmed it doesn't know anything about it and that the women has never been in it's membership.

After all, the woman was left to face the justice alone, and was convicted to imprisonment. One may say, summarizing: “the party will always its back on you, the violator.”

Of course, it's not the first case when bribers are found guilty in court, but they rarely do get imprisonment as a punishment. Perhaps, if a party or candidate suggests you to “campaign” in this way, you better think: will he support you if you are caught on the spot? The chances to get caught are quite high, – competitors will not stand aside observing bribery.

I would like to mention that according to OPORA's data, 69 bills of indictment related to electoral violations were passed in Ukraine after 2015 local elections.

Court decision is at http://www.reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/78263688