Volodymyr Krasovskyi, the lawyer of Serhiy Kuzminykh, who is accused of bribery, accused UNN of pressuring the court and inciting judges to make a "socially acceptable decision." He believes that the media considers the defense's work in the MP's case to be inadequate. He announced a motion demanding that journalists not be allowed into court sessions on Monday, according to a UNN correspondent and from the courtroom.
Before the start of the session, the presiding judge announced that motions had been received from the media, including UNN, requesting permission for video recording of the court proceedings, and put this issue up for discussion among the participants.
Regarding UNN, I fully object, this is my subjective view. Their articles contained statements evaluating the work of both the defense and the court, saying that the court made such a decision, and this was rejected. In some way, they incite the court to make a socially acceptable decision.
Despite the lawyer stating that there was pressure on the court from journalists, when asked by the presiding judge whether this pressure was in the form of influence on the court, he noted:
In the form of public discussion in such a way that the public can prematurely draw its own conclusion regarding the circumstances, which the court itself should conclude. That is, to create distrust in the court decision as such, if it does not suit the public, in particular the mentioned publication.
The only argument the defense lawyer could come up with was the following: "The publication evaluated the defense's work as inadequate."
The prosecutor did not object to the presence of journalists at the session. After a short deliberation, the court allowed journalists to be present at the session, noting that the lawyer had not provided evidence that the court proceedings could be harmed by the actions of journalists.
It is not precisely known what exactly offended the lawyer of Serhiy Kuzminykh, the MP accused of bribery. But UNN has several options. The first is the publication based on Krasovskyi's speech at the session, where he convinced the judges that Kuzminykh was actually almost forced to take a bribe. Although here it is worth recalling the video published by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) in which a man, very similar to the MP, talks about being ready to take money in any currency.
We cannot rule out that the lawyer did not like that UNN's journalistic investigation revealed that the people's deputy is obviously very closely connected with the pharmacy business, registered to his driver, who, by the way, also appears in the criminal proceedings as an intermediary who brought kickbacks to Kuzminykh. After all, according to current legislation, people's deputies are prohibited from engaging in entrepreneurial activity.
Perhaps defense lawyer Krasovskyi is dissatisfied that the scandalous background of Kuzminykh, accused of bribery, got into the media. As it became known, he had previously repeatedly violated the law – in particular, he drove a car several times while intoxicated, for which he was deprived of his driver's license, and also has an administrative protocol for drinking alcohol in public places.
So, it remains a secret, known only to the lawyer, how these facts can affect the court, as well as what, from his point of view, the verdict will be, as he says, "socially acceptable."
Recall
Serhiy Kuzminykh, MP, head of the subcommittee on pharmacy and pharmaceutical activities of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Health, was caught "red-handed" while receiving an illegal benefit of 558 thousand hryvnias. According to the investigation, he received funds for assisting in signing contracts between private companies and one of the hospitals in Zhytomyr region for the supply of medical equipment.
At the end of January 2022, NABU recorded the transfer of money and published a video about it. In it, a person with a voice similar to Kuzminykh's promises his assistance and adds that he can resolve issues with all medical institutions in the region.
On January 31, 2022, then Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova signed a suspicion notice for him. Serhiy Kuzminykh was not detained due to "deputy immunity," but he ignored interrogations, which led to him being declared wanted. After several days of "hiding," the MP was finally detained for the selection of a preventive measure.
In May 2022, Kuzminykh was chosen a preventive measure in the form of bail of 49,600 hryvnias. Of course, the bail for the people's deputy was paid.
In September 2022, the indictment in the case against Kuzminykh was sent to the HACC for consideration on the merits. The stage of evidence examination is currently underway. However, the consideration of the case is delayed, in particular, due to Kuzminykh's frequent non-appearance. According to information provided by the HACC, the MP missed 22 court sessions.