Acting Director of SBI Sukhachov: I wouldn’t be so quick to exclude version of premeditated murder of judge Pysanets

KYIV. Sept 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The investigation is checking all possible versions of the death of judge of Pechersky District Court of Kyiv Vitaliy Pysanets, acting Director of the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) Oleksiy Sukhachov said.

“A criminal proceeding was registered under the article ‘Intentional murder.’ We carried out urgent investigative actions and conducted an investigative experiment with the participation of persons who were directly at the scene of the event at the time it happened,” Sukhachov said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

He said that a forensic medical examination had already been carried out, several more examinations had been appointed, according to the results of which investigative versions would be worked out.

“All the participants in the event are in communication with the investigators, that is, in a very short period of time we will put an end to this proceeding,” Sukhachov emphasized.

Answering the clarifying question whether this means checking all the circumstances in order to exclude premeditated murder, the director of the State Bureau of Investigations said: “All possible versions of the investigation will be checked. I would not be in a hurry to assert that the version of premeditated murder has been ruled out.”

At the same time, Sukhachov added: “If weighty evidence is obtained to confirm this or that version and the corresponding need arises, we will discuss the change of the crime classification.”

As reported, judge of the Pechersky district court of Kyiv Vitaliy Pysanets was found dead in the village of Pohreby. Upon the death of the judge, law enforcement officers opened criminal proceedings under Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (premeditated murder). The pretrial investigation is being carried out by investigators from the territorial office of the State Bureau of Investigations, located in Kyiv.

Vitaliy Pysanets was a judge of the Sverdlovsk City Court of Luhansk region from 1998 to 2011, and from 2011 to 2015 he served as chairman of the said court. In 2015, by decree of the President of Ukraine, Pysanets was transferred to the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv. In the capital’s court, Pysanets, among other duties, was investigating judge in the case of the murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet.

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine took control over the investigation into the death of the judge.