More than a year ago, two doctors at the private Odrex clinic — Vitalii Rusakov and Maryna Bielotserkovska — were notified of suspicion of improper performance of their professional duties, which resulted in the death of a patient. During this time, the doctors’ case was referred to court. The consideration of the case on its merits was supposed to begin as early as late last year or early this year, but formally this stage began only in July 2026. Why this happened and why the situation looks like an attempt to evade justice — read in the UNN report.
At the end of October 2025, the head of the surgical department, Vitalii Rusakov, and oncologist Maryna Bielotserkovska of the private Odesa clinic "Odrex" were notified of suspicion under Part 1 of Article 140 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — improper performance by a medical professional of their professional duties, which resulted in the death of a patient. The case concerns the death of Odesa businessman Adnan Kivan, who was undergoing treatment for cancer at this clinic.
According to the investigation, after the operation, the doctors may have failed to prescribe the necessary antibacterial therapy to their patient, Adnan Kivan, and may have responded inadequately to postoperative complications. According to the findings of a forensic medical examination, this could have led to the development of sepsis and death. The accused do not admit their guilt and, seemingly, should have been interested in the swiftest possible court proceedings, since during the trial they are subject to certain restrictions and procedural obligations that also affect their professional activities.
Stage One: Delay things, and if you cannot — go to another court
After the investigation was completed, the case was referred to the Primorskyi District Court of Odesa. Already during the preparatory proceedings, the hearings were postponed repeatedly due to the absence of the accused doctors’ defense attorneys, as well as the filing by the defense of procedural motions, including motions to return the indictment to the prosecutor and to request additional documents. Judge for yourselves — the first court hearing took place back at the end of January, but at that time the court could only extend the preventive measures imposed on the suspects. That same hearing marked the start of a "marathon" of motions by the defense — one of the first, seeking the recusal of the prosecutor, was denied.
Subsequently, the preparatory court hearings were postponed several more times — because of the attorneys’ absence, a motion to return the indictment against doctor Rusakov and cancel the measures securing the criminal proceedings (to return the mobile phone and flash drive seized during the search), as well as a request for documents concerning Adnan Kivan’s treatment at other medical facilities. All of this forced the court to postpone the hearings. Eventually, the first hearing on the merits was scheduled for March 23. But as soon as the hearings on the merits began, the attorneys filed a motion to recuse the judge.
It was only in May that the court managed to approach the stage of examining the evidence in the case. An independent medical expert — a clinical oncologist — was also summoned to the court hearing. The expert’s opinion in this case is necessary to assess whether the doctors properly performed their duties and provided treatment; the judge will rely heavily on this opinion when delivering the verdict. And this is where the (un)expected happened — the defense filed a motion to change the venue, that is, to transfer the case to another court. In fact, with this motion, the attorneys not only slowed the transition to the examination of the evidence, but derailed it.
Stage Two: Repeating What Has Already Been Done
Eventually, the case was transferred to the Kyivskyi District Court of Odesa, where everything had to be started over — including the preparatory proceedings.
Judge Viktor Chaplytskyi encountered a similar tactic from the defense: the attorneys were either absent or submitted a mountain of motions. As a result, the judge was forced to postpone court hearings repeatedly or spend time considering motions instead of hearing the case. It was only in August that the court was able to proceed to consideration of the case on its merits. By that point, the legal wrangling had already lasted eight months, but the trial had effectively only just begun.
As of today, the court is still at the stage of examining the evidence and is about to move on to hearing the independent medical expert. As the situation in the Primorsky District Court demonstrated, this may become a turning point in the proceedings—not only because of the importance of the expert’s conclusions for the decision in the case, but also because of the defense’s apparent reluctance to have the expert voice those conclusions.
Judge Chaplytskyi has scheduled hearings through the end of September—by the judge’s decision, they are to take place almost every day. This has already caused dissatisfaction on the part of one of the defendants, doctor Vitalii Rusakov, who should have been interested in the case being heard as quickly as possible, since the court has imposed restrictions on him in the form of nighttime house arrest and suspension from his position at the Odrex clinic.
The next court hearing took place yesterday, September 9, and the next one is scheduled for September 10. The court has already heard Rusakov’s defense objections to the prosecution’s evidence and plans to hear the defense of Bielotserkivska. After that, a medical expert will be summoned to court. And on the eve of this event, strange things have begun to happen—information has emerged that, allegedly, sometime in the 1990s, Serhii Chvankin, head of the Kyivskyi District Court of Odesa, may have had some connection with Adnan Kivan. To understand why such information has appeared, one should return to the period when the case was being heard by the Primorsky Court.
Literally at the moment when the expert was supposed to appear in the proceedings, the defense filed a motion to change the venue on the grounds that the representative of the injured parties, attorney Daniil Granin, worked at the Primorsky District Court of Odesa from 2016 to 2020. This was despite the fact that he had finished working at the court before Judge Larysa Pereverzieva, who was hearing the doctors’ case, began working there. But ultimately, this proved sufficient to change the venue.
A logical question arises: should we expect a similar turn of events now?
Is the goal of delaying the proceedings to escape justice?
The defense has an entire arsenal of procedural possibilities for defending the accused. But quite often, attorneys use this arsenal to develop a strategy of delay, and it is precisely this strategy that is emerging in the case of the Odrex doctors. But why would it benefit the doctors to remain under house arrest and suspended from their positions for a long time, remaining defendants? Time is a powerful instrument that keeps them from a final court decision. What that decision will be, of course, will be determined by the court based on the results of the proceedings. But a change in the rhetoric of doctor Rusakov is already noticeable: he has moved from statements that he did not understand the charges brought against him to statements about the need to change the approach to punishment for medical error, which he considers a minor offense. So, at the very least, did an error occur?
Another weighty argument in favor of delaying the proceedings is the statute of limitations. For the article under which the doctors are being tried, it is three years from the moment the crime was committed. Since Adnan Kivan died at the end of October 2024, the limitation period expires in autumn 2027. If the verdict does not become legally effective by then, the case will be closed. A little more than a year remains. As the previous history of the case demonstrates, if the venue is changed again, this period can be overcome quite easily by repeating procedural maneuvers, since the court will be forced to return to the stage of preparatory proceedings. And then a successful escape from justice will become a reality, while the family of the deceased businessman will lose the chance not only to learn the real causes of Adnan Kivan’s death, but also to receive an answer to the question of who is to blame.
Are medical documents being falsified at the Odrex clinic? A patient's story13.08.26, 12:19