Under the procedural guidance of the District Prosecutor's Office of Sumy, three academic staff members of one of the higher education institutions in Sumy have been exposed for extortion and receiving illegal benefits – the head of the postgraduate and doctoral studies department, the head of the department of special and inclusive education, and a professor of the mentioned department (Part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

These educators created conditions under which postgraduate students could not gain access to the defense of their scientific work without additional payment. 

As part of the criminal proceedings, a fact of extortion was documented involving a postgraduate student who planned to obtain a scientific degree, demanding 3,600 US dollars and 30,000 UAH. 

After receiving the second part of the illegal benefit amounting to 1,800 US dollars and 15,000 UAH, the three academic staff members were detained in accordance with Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. 

On January 27, 2026, they were informed of the suspicion. Currently, the issue of choosing preventive measures for the suspects and their suspension from office is being resolved.

The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by investigators of the Investigative Department of the National Police in the Sumy region in cooperation with the Security Service of Ukraine and the State Bureau of Investigation in the Sumy region under the procedural guidance of the prosecutor's office.

Note: According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a guilty verdict of the court.