The Kyiv Court of Appeal held its second court session in the case of the murder of 16-year-old Maksym Materukhin at the capital's funicular station. The defense initiated a re-examination of a number of pieces of evidence. This was announced by Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, who emphasized that the prosecution's position remains unchanged - life imprisonment, reports UNN.
Details
Today, the Kyiv Court of Appeal held its second court session in the case of the murder of 16-year-old Maksym Materukhin, which occurred in April 2024 at the capital's funicular station.
Kravchenko emphasized that the consistent position of the prosecution is that the verdict of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv dated September 22, 2025, which sentenced the accused to life imprisonment for intentional murder on hooligan motives, is lawful and justified.
The defense initiated a re-examination of a number of pieces of evidence - protocols of the scene inspection, mobile phone and video recordings, materials of the investigative experiment, as well as the conclusion of a comprehensive examination. At the same time, all these pieces of evidence had already been examined by the court of first instance with the participation of the parties to the process, including the accused and his defense lawyer. The defense had the opportunity to draw the court's attention to circumstances it considered significant and to present its arguments
He emphasized that in the verdict, the court evaluated all the evidence - with a statement of the content of expert opinions and a frame-by-frame analysis of video recordings. At the same time, the defense did not provide any argument that certain evidence remained without court evaluation, and claims of an alleged "sudden conflict" are refuted by the established circumstances of the case.
The accused was in a state of alcoholic and drug intoxication. In the funicular car, he harassed teenagers and insulted them. Without any reason, he chose 16-year-old Maksym Materukhin as his victim and, when the boy was leaving the car, grabbed him by his clothes and forcefully threw him into the station's glass. This is confirmed by witness testimonies, video recordings, and expert conclusions.
According to Kravchenko, the defense's explanations regarding different interpretations of the evidence essentially amount to attempts to delay the process.
Following the consideration of the submitted motions, the court partially granted the defense's motion. The next court session will be held on March 25
Context
On April 8, 2024, Artem Kosov was notified of suspicion of intentional murder of a teenager. As established by the investigation, the incident occurred at the upper funicular station, which leads to the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery. Kosov, being intoxicated, began to harass a group of teenagers, among whom was Maksym Materukhin. Kosov pushed the 16-year-old boy, who died from the impact of the fall.
On September 22, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv sentenced Artem Kosov to life imprisonment for the murder of Materukhin on the funicular. The prosecution requested the highest penalty for the accused. At that time, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko stated that the prosecution in the case of the murder of a teenager on the capital's funicular was ready for an appeal.
Addition
Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko expressed the initiative for the need to introduce an alternative-free punishment in the form of life imprisonment for particularly serious crimes against children. He appealed to the law enforcement committee of the Verkhovna Rada with a proposal to support the relevant initiative and introduce such punishment for the murder and rape of children.
Today, life imprisonment is provided for in exceptional cases; mostly, it refers to a punishment of 15 years of imprisonment, sometimes with the possibility of reducing the term of punishment.
It should be added that the prosecution is actively seeking the imposition of the maximum severe sentence - life imprisonment for serious crimes against children.