peoples-deputy-kuzminykh-and-lawyers-disrupted-more-than-half-of-court-hearings-in-the-bribery-case

Sabotage in court? How Kuzminykh and lawyers disrupted more than half of the hearings in the bribery case

August 11, 2025 at 10:29 AM • 140632 переглядiв

More than half of the hearings in the case of Serhiy Kuzminykh's half-million bribe were disrupted by the defense, UNN reports.

Out of 86 scheduled hearings in the case regarding Serhiy Kuzminykh's half-million bribe, 22 did not take place due to the non-appearance of the defendant himself, and 31 were disrupted due to the ignoring of court hearings by the MP's lawyers. According to the official response of the High Anti-Corruption Court to a journalistic request from the UNN editorial office, due to such behavior of the defense, it was even necessary to involve a lawyer from the Northern Interregional Center for Free Legal Aid to comply with the reasonable terms of criminal proceedings.

And such a decision by the HACC is not unfounded. After all, almost 62% of the hearings in Serhiy Kuzminykh's bribery case did not take place due to the sabotage of the court by the defense. It turns out that out of 86 hearings, 53 did not take place because either the lawyers or Kuzminykh himself did not come to court.

The HACC also reported that the reasons for Kuzminykh's absence from court hearings were allegedly his illnesses or parliamentary activities. Among these, for example, was Serhiy Kuzminykh's business trip to Moldova for "strengthening inter-parliamentary cooperation".

The non-appearance of the accused Serhiy Kuzminykh at court hearings occurred, in particular, due to his activities as a people's deputy, the accused's inpatient treatment, or temporary incapacity for work
– stated in the HACC's response.

Delay tactics

Serhiy Kuzminykh's lawyers – the MP's official representatives in court, whom he pays for services, have repeatedly prioritized other cases. At first glance, it may seem that Kuzminykh's case is simply not a priority for the defense, as they missed 31 hearings in his case. However, in reality, this may be part of a common tactic of delaying the process, explained Denys Nevyadomsky, President of the All-Ukrainian Association of Retired Judges, in a comment to UNN.

Delaying the process by the defense, for example, by a lawyer, can occur in several ways, including non-appearance, filing motions to postpone the case, or calling additional witnesses. It is also important to draw the court's attention to the interpretation of these actions as an abuse of procedural rights, which can lead to delays in the consideration of the case.
– noted Nevyadomsky.

Moreover, such behavior by the defense could provoke a change in the pre-trial detention measure for MP Serhiy Kuzminykh to detention, believes former Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Oleksiy Baganets. In addition, he noted that the judge has the right to seize the MP's foreign passports. According to him, such actions would be logical, because by ignoring court hearings, Serhiy Kuzminykh violates his obligations.

Given the corruption crime he is suspected of, why was he not subjected to such a procedural obligation as a ban, for example, on traveling abroad, or surrendering his foreign passports? In addition, if the suspect does not fulfill his obligations, his pre-trial detention measure may be changed to detention.
– believes Baganets

At the same time, a number of media outlets reported that the delay in Serhiy Kuzminykh's half-million bribe case may also be due to NABU having recruited the MP and allegedly promised, in exchange for cooperation and "leaking" the information they needed, to put the case "on hold."

Recall

MP, head of the subcommittee on pharmacy and pharmaceutical activities of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Health, Serhiy Kuzminykh was exposed in January 2022 for receiving a 558,000 UAH bribe. According to the investigation, he received these funds for facilitating the signing of contracts between private companies and a hospital in the Zhytomyr region. NABU published a video of the money transfer.

On January 31, 2022, then-Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova signed a suspicion notice for Serhiy Kuzminykh. The MP could not be detained due to parliamentary immunity, but he repeatedly ignored interrogations, which led to him being put on the wanted list. After Kuzminykh was finally found and detained, the court set bail at UAH 49,600, which was paid.

In September 2022, the indictment was sent to the HACC. Almost a year later, in August 2025, the evidence is still being examined, and the process is accompanied by massive disruptions of hearings by the defense.

Lilia PodolyakPolitics