Our song is good and new: did Kuzminykh's lawyer again resort to delaying court hearings?

The High Anti-Corruption Court on Monday continued hearings in the case of MP Serhiy Kuzminykh, who is accused of receiving a bribe. At the beginning of the session, the MP's lawyer petitioned to shorten the session by an hour due to his involvement in another court case, a UNN correspondent reported from the courtroom.

At the beginning of the session, the presiding judge announced that defense lawyer Volodymyr Krasovsky had filed a motion to shorten the court session by one hour due to his involvement in another case. At the same time, she inquired why the lawyer was again prioritizing another criminal case.

The defense lawyer tried to justify himself by saying that due to his involvement in the Kuzminykh case, another case was sent for retrial in the first instance.

The court planned to interrogate a secret prosecution witness at the session, but due to the lawyer, this interrogation did not take place, as the session time was shortened. It should be noted that lawyers often resort to delaying court proceedings so that the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution expires in cases against their clients – this is a defense tactic.

The judges only managed to examine the material evidence provided by the prosecution, which included the MP's mobile phone and the money given to Kuzminykh as a bribe. The session was adjourned until 2:30 PM on August 11.

Additionally

The High Anti-Corruption Court has been considering the case of MP Serhiy Kuzminykh, accused of bribery, for almost three years. Out of 86 court sessions, 31 were disrupted due to the non-appearance of the defense, and the MP himself missed 22 sessions.

Recall

MP Serhiy Kuzminykh, head of the subcommittee on pharmacy and pharmaceutical activities of the VR Committee on National Health, was caught red-handed while receiving an illegal benefit of UAH 558,000. According to the investigation, he received the funds for facilitating the signing of contracts between private companies and one of the hospitals in Zhytomyr Oblast 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 pre-trial restraint.

In May 2022, Kuzminykh was chosen a pre-trial restraint in the form of bail of UAH 49,600. 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 being delayed, in particular, due to Kuzminykh's frequent non-appearance. According to information provided by the HACC, the MP missed 22 court sessions.