The former head of the prevention department at Police Station No. 3 of the Odesa District Police Department No. 2, Oleksandr Yanchev, has remained in the status of a defendant in a corruption and extortion case for nearly three years. Despite being detained while accepting a bribe back in August 2024, the judicial process continues to face heavy delays due to mass self-recusals by judges and shifts in jurisdiction. This is detailed in the criminal case files No. 62024150020001028 under Part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
According to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), Oleksandr Yanchev targeted a married couple who, between 2020 and 2023, had repeatedly been fined by police for selling watermelons without permits on roadsides in the Lyman district. The police official personally contacted the woman and, during a meeting in June 2024, offered «protection» in exchange for regular bribes.
When the entrepreneur noted that she was already planning to legitimize the business and obtain the necessary paperwork, Yanchev stated that without the cash bribes, he would sabotage their work regardless. The woman pretended to agree to the terms but immediately reported the extortion to law enforcement. The police officer was arrested on the morning of August 2024, near his residence in Dobroslav, during the cash handover.
Immediately following his arrest, the court ordered Yanchev to be held in custody with a bail option set at 514,700 UAH. Within days, the bail was posted, and the suspect was released under restrictions preventing him from leaving the Odesa region. By the end of autumn 2024, the case files were forwarded to the Kominternivskyi District Court. However, the legal proceedings were promptly paralyzed by the judges themselves.
Throughout December 2024, three local judges—Anzhelika Safarova, Akseniia Lytvyniuk, and Andrii Akymiv—withdrew from the case one after another. A fourth judge was removed following a motion by prosecutor Dmytro Yemets, who highlighted severe conflict-of-interest risks:
«Since Yanchev has been serving in the police forces since 2015 and headed the prevention sector since 2022, he maintains close ties with representatives of other branches of local government, which could compromise the objectivity of the trial in Dobroslav.»
Due to the inability to form a qualified judicial panel, the Odesa Court of Appeals transferred the case to the Suvorovskyi (Peresypskyi) District Court of Odesa in March 2025.
In the new jurisdiction, the defendant’s legal counsel attempted to lower the bail amount nearly ninefold—down to 60,560 UAH. However, a judicial panel led by Oleksandr Derkachov rejected the motion. Currently, the judicial process is moving at a snail’s pace, with the next hearing scheduled as late as July 4, 2026.
In tandem with the criminal trial, the former official tried to contest his dismissal from the police force, which occurred in September 2024 amid the corruption scandal. Yanchev filed a lawsuit with the Odesa District Administrative Court, arguing that his termination was unlawful prior to an official court verdict. In late 2025, Judge Vadym Andrukhiv fully dismissed the ex-policeman’s reinstatement claims.
According to recent court records, the former police captain has since transitioned into the private sector, while the high-profile case involving police corruption and bribery in the Odesa region remains unresolved. The defendant faces up to 10 years in prison along with the confiscation of property.