Paedophiles will be chemically castrated by an injection under sweeping new laws in Ukraine.
The chemical process ‘involves the forced injection of anti-androgen drugs consisting of chemicals that should reduce libido and sexual activity’, Ukraine’s national news agency said.
The legislation will apply to men between 18 and 65 who are found guilty of raping or sexually abusing minors, and could affect thousands of people a year.
In 2017 official figures showed 320 child rapes in Ukraine – but the numbers of paedophile sex abuse cases are believed to run into the thousands.
National police chief Vyacheslav Abroskin said this week: ‘Five children were raped in four regions of Ukraine… within just 24 hours.
‘And these are the crimes which parents reported to police despite their fear and anxiety to do so.
‘We can only guess how many latent sexual crimes against children we have in the country.’
In one horrific recent case, 11-year-old Daria Lukyanenko, from Odessa region, was killed after she ‘fought back’ against an alleged rape attempt by a family friend Nikolay Tarasov, 22.
Her body was found after a six day search in a village cesspool, and the man was detained for attempted rape and murder.
Hundreds attended her funeral and the suspect’s mother Maria publicly ‘disowned’ her son.
Earlier armed police intervened after his family home was besieged by angry locals.
The toughening of the law on sex crimes involving children was passed at a special session of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament.
Radical Party leader Oleg Lyashko who proposed the castration move said: ‘Ukrainian law does not have a life term or death penalty for sex crimes against children.
‘And it is very unlikely that the rapist would not be back to his “business” again after release from jail.’
Under the new laws, Ukraine is also to set up a public register of paedophiles jailed for child rape and sexual abuse of minors.
Such criminals will be monitored for life by police after release from jail.
In another move, the maximum jail term for raping a child was increased from 12 to 15 years.
Another ex-Soviet state, Kazakhstan, also permits the chemical castration of sex offenders.
This followed a report saying child rapes doubled to around 1,000 a year in the period between 2010 and 2014.
Ukraine did not specify the chemical cocktail it will use.
But Kazakhstan has purchased stocks of Cyproterone, a steroidal anti-androgen developed for fighting cancer, with doctors administering the injections.
‘It causes the lowering of libido,’ said urologist Dr Mirzakhmet Zhanadilov. ‘The medication is different for each person.
‘That is, medication that is enough for one person to prevent repeated (sexual) offending, others can be resistant to.
‘For them, not only do we administer the drug but control testosterone too.’
