Medvedchuk refuses to appeal against court decision to extend his house arrest

KYIV. Sept 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian parliamentarian of the Opposition Platform – For Life faction Viktor Medvedchuk, suspected of treason and attempted plunder of national resources, decided not to appeal the court’s decision to extend his house arrest until October 31.

"In the current situation, in the conditions of criminal pressure from the authorities on the court, which once again extended my house arrest, I decided to refuse to appeal and postpone the legal struggle on the issue of illegally choosing me a preventive measure with the European Court of Human Rights, where my complaints have already been accepted for consideration," said Medvedchuk in a statement published on the website of the Opposition Platform – For Life faction.

He expressed confidence that the court’s decision was unlawful and taken under pressure.

"The courts are under such pressure that they cannot objectively and impartially administer justice. And therefore, in court we saw not justice, but the political will of the current government, which by the hands of judges eliminates political competitors and everyone who is dissatisfied with the policy of the current regime," the MP stressed.

As reported, On May 11, MPs Viktor Medvedchuk and Taras Kozak were notified that they were suspected of high treason and an attempt to misappropriate Ukrainian national resources in Crimea.

According to Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, the suspicion concerns three episodes of illegal activity and cooperation with the aggressor country. According to the investigation, in 2015, Medvedchuk entered into a preliminary conspiracy with an official of the Russian government to extract minerals on the shelf of the Black Sea (the sea economic zone of Ukraine, temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation).

Another episode of criminal proceedings concerns the transfer of information containing state secrets to the special services of the Russian Federation. The third episode of illegal activity is subversive activities against Ukraine, in particular, in context of the development of the anti-Ukrainian project Luch.

On May 12, Medvedchuk arrived at the Office of the Prosecutor General, got familiar with a copy of the suspicion presented to him and said that he did not intend to hide from the investigation, and the suspicions were politically motivated. The court chose a measure of restraint for him in form of house arrest, the court of appeal upheld it.

On September 2, Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court extended the measure of restraint in the form of round-the-clock house arrest until October 31. The representative of the prosecution, justifying the need to extend the preventive measure, recalled that on August 20, 2021, the pretrial investigation in criminal proceedings was completed, but the risk of influencing witnesses is also at the stage of judicial consideration.