Doctor prosecuted for sexual assault of patients

Take note – story published 1 year ago

Riga Eastern Prosecutor's Office has decided to subject immunity specialist Jevgēnijs Ņikiforenko to criminal liability for sexual abuse against his patients, the prosecutor's press secretary said May 31.

Aiga Eiduka, press secretary of the Prosecutor General's Office, without mentioning the name of the accused, said that the immunity specialist was accused of committing four criminal offenses under Section 160, Paragraph one of the Criminal Law regarding acts of sexual nature for the purpose of sexual gratification in physical contact with the body of the victim, if such acts have been committed taking advantage of the state of helplessness of a victim or against the will of the victim by means of violence, threats or using trust, authority or exerting other influence over the victim. This may be punished by deprivation of liberty for up to seven years and by probation monitoring for up to five years.

The doctor has also been accused of committing three criminal offenses under the second paragraph of Section 160 of the Criminal Law: for anal or oral act or sexual gratification in an unnatural way which is related to vaginal, anal or oral penetration of the body of the victim. In turn, this may be punished under the Criminal Law by deprivation of liberty for a period of four to ten years and subject to probation monitoring for a period of up to five years.

Five persons have been identified as victims.

The Prosecutor's Office stated that pre-trial criminal proceedings are ongoing at the moment, during which the necessary procedural actions are being taken so that no further comments are made on the part of the Prosecutor's Office.

Several women accused the doctor Ņikiforenko of sexual abuse and turned to the police and other supervisory authorities but the police ended the criminal proceedings, whereas the prosecutor's office rejected the complaints. Following the publication of the story in the media, several other patients spoke up. In February 2022, State Police launched criminal proceedings against Ņikiforenko.

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