The case of a former judge from Mykolaiv, who is suspected of organizing the murder of his stepmother, has been sent to court

An indictment has been sent to court in Mykolaiv Oblast against former judge of the Central District Court of Mykolaiv, Andriy Rudyak. According to the investigation, he organized the contract killing of his own stepmother, as well as a robbery combined with intentional murder. This was reported by the regional prosecutor’s office.

Investigators established that the motive for the crime was a conflict over the inheritance of the deceased head of one of Mykolaiv’s district courts. In 2014, his wife and two sons from a previous marriage, one of whom was a judge, disputed several real estate properties and vehicles.

Investigators believe that Andriy Rudyak decided to eliminate the woman to obtain property to which she was entitled. To carry out the plan he recruited three previously convicted individuals and promised them US$6,500 for the murder.

On July 30, 2014 one of the perpetrators, dressed in a police uniform, under the pretext of an arrest forced the victim into a car. The woman was taken to a property in the village of Radsad, where she was tortured and then strangled.

After that the accomplices took the deceased’s personal belongings and attempted to conceal traces of the crime. The body was drowned in the Southern Bug river. The body of Judge Rudyak’s widow was found in a plastic bag.

In 2021 three direct perpetrators received actual prison sentences. The materials concerning the organizer were separated into a separate proceeding. It was previously reported that three perpetrators of the murder of Tetyana Rudyak were detained, and Andriy Rudyak was notified of suspicion of involvement in the crime. The Verkhovna Rada also authorized his arrest.

The former judge has been hiding for a long time in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea. Prosecutors applied to the court to conduct a special pre-trial investigation under the procedure in absentia. The court granted this petition.

The pre-trial investigation was conducted by investigators of the Territorial Department of the State Bureau of Investigation in Mykolaiv.

Previously we wrote:

• The fugitive judge suspected of murder was declared wanted
• The story of the Rudyak family: Judge Andriy Rudyak was linked to the torture and murder of his stepmother
• The Rada gave consent to the arrest of Mykolaiv judge Rudyak, suspected of murdering his stepmother
• The body of Judge Rudyak’s murdered widow was found in a plastic bag on the bank of the Southern Bug