Teenager's murder on Kyiv funicular: lawyer held accountable for delaying court proceedings

In Ukraine, a lawyer was brought to disciplinary responsibility for delaying court proceedings in a high-profile case involving the murder of a teenager. This was reported by UNN with reference to the Office of the Prosecutor General.

Details

The case concerns the death of teenager Maksym Materukhin at the Kyiv Funicular station: the crime occurred in early June 2024 at the upper station of the funicular, which leads to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building and St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery. Former UDO employee Artem Kosov, while 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.

In the autumn of 2025, Kosov was sentenced to life imprisonment. The panel of judges of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv repeatedly raised the issue of bringing the accused's lawyers to disciplinary responsibility, but the court's rulings remained unconsidered for a long time.

This case received significant public resonance and was widely covered in the media. During the trial, facts of deliberate delay of the process by the defenders of the accused Artem Kosov were repeatedly recorded. In particular, court hearings were disrupted without valid reasons, obstacles were created for the examination of evidence and the interrogation of witnesses. In order to prevent further delay in the consideration of criminal proceedings, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko personally participated in court hearings and repeatedly drew attention to the unacceptable behavior of lawyers who artificially complicated the trial and violated the rights of other participants in the proceedings.

In September 2025, the Office of the Prosecutor General appealed to the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Bar with a complaint regarding one of the lawyers.

On December 29, 2025, by the decision of the disciplinary chamber of the KDCA of Rivne region, the complaint of the Office of the Prosecutor General was satisfied. The lawyer was subjected to disciplinary action in the form of suspension of the right to practice law for a period of three months.

Recall

Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko expressed the initiative on 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.