Trial In Case Of Journalist Pavel Sheremet’s Murder To Start Anew
- 12.06.2023, 12:04
Previous results have been reset.
The Shevchenko District Court of Kyiv will begin to re-examine the case of the murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet. The reason is that the case was considered by a jury, two of whom dropped out of the process. A new composition of the court was recently elected. The retrial of the case should begin on June 23, Graty writes.
The case of the murder of Belarusian journalist Pavel Sheremet was considered by a jury. Two of them are now unable to participate in the process. As the lawyer of the defendant Andrey Antonenko Dmytro Kruhovoy told Graty, one of the jurors was mobilized to the war, the other one left Ukraine.
On June 2, the Shevchenko District Court of Kyiv approved the new jury. According to the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine, in this case, the hearings start anew. Prior to this, the trial went on for almost three years, and now its results have been reset.
The retrial of the case is due to begin on June 23.
The defendants pleaded not guilty
Pavel Sheremet died on July 20, 2016. Special Forces soldier Andriy Antonenko, also known as rock musician Riffmaster, pediatric surgeon and volunteer Yulia Kuzmenko, and military nurse Yana DuharM were detained in connection with the murder.
In December 2019, the police said that Antonenko and Kuzmenko planted explosives under the car, Duhar conducted reconnaissance before the murder.
All defendants stated that they had nothing to do with the murder. Their lawyers insisted that the examinations were of poor quality, and the experts were biased and were under the influence of the investigation. The accused were well-known people among ATO veterans and volunteers, and a broad public campaign began in their support.
The court sent Antonenko and Kuzmenko to a pre-trial detention center, but over time they were released from there under house arrest — first round-the-clock, and then only at night. The third suspect, Yana Duhar, was immediately placed under house arrest by the court; in May 2020, she was released on bail of UAH 168,000.
The last hearing before full-scale war took place on February 21, 2022, three days before the Russian invasion. Antonenko remained under nightly house arrest, but still immediately went to fight. The preventive measures for him and the other suspects were not extended.
The lawyer and the defendant were mobilized
“I performed my tasks as an officer of the Special Operations Forces in the Kherson, Sumy and Kyiv regions,” Antonenko described his activities over the past year and a half in a conversation with Graty.
Another defendant, Yana Duhar, was mobilized on February 25 and, according to her, since then she has been mainly in the east of the country. She became an officer and is now in charge of the battalion's medical center.
“I take part in both assault and defense operations. I am engaged in logistics between other evacuation units and brigades, evacuation routes, medical care,” Duhar said about her work.
Yulia Kuzmenko is still working as a surgeon in Kyiv.
According to Antonenko, the trials resumed last autumn, but due to the participation of two defendants in the war, only two or three hearings took place, one of which was on June 2.
On it, the defense asked the court to suspend the process in connection with the mobilization of Yana Duhar. According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, the accused have such a right, but the court refused. The reason is still unknown, so far the judge has announced only the operative part of the decision.
On June 2, the court also changed Yana Duhar's preventive measure from bail to a personal obligation to appear in court. As for the 168 thousand hryvnias, which the state will return to her, the woman is going to transfer this money to her combat unit.
For almost three years, the court managed to almost completely examine the written evidence and videos provided by both the prosecutor's office and the defense and had to move on to the interrogation of witnesses. A total of 270 witnesses were declared in the case. Now the process can take even longer due to the participation of two defendants in the hostilities.
Graty tried to find out the position on restarting the court from the representative of the victims — the mother of Pavel Sheremet and his common-law wife Olena Prytula. However, lawyer Dmitry Ivanov, who represented them, has also been mobilized and is no longer involved in the proceedings.