The case of Adnan Kivan's death: accused Odrex doctors continue to delay court proceedings
Kyiv • UNN
A court in Odesa failed to impose a pretrial restrictive measure on Odrex doctors due to delays caused by the defense. The medics are accused of negligence that resulted in the death of a patient.
The trial of the criminal case against doctors of the Odesa private clinic Odrex, Vitaliy Rusakov and Maryna Belotserkovska, who are accused of improper performance of professional duties by a medical worker that could have caused grave consequences for the patient and led to the death of businessman Adnan Kivan, is once again under threat of disruption due to the actions of the defense. The Kyivskyi District Court of Odesa was unable to consider the prosecutor's motion to select preventive measures for the accused due to the failure of one of the lawyers to appear and postponed the hearing until Friday, UNN reports.
At the beginning of the preliminary court hearing, the judge announced that the lawyer for the accused Belotserkovska, Yulia Duz, had filed a motion to postpone the case due to being on sick leave. It is worth noting that she filed a similar motion at the previous hearing, which may indicate attempts to delay the trial.
According to the prosecution's version, after the surgical intervention, the patient was not prescribed proper antibacterial therapy, and there was no timely response to postoperative complications. This could have led to the development of sepsis, which, according to the findings of the forensic medical examination, could have been the cause of death.
During the preliminary hearing, it was planned that the court would consider the prosecution's motion to select preventive measures for Maryna Belotserkovska and Vitaliy Rusakov in the form of nightly house arrest.
According to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), such motions must be considered no later than 72 hours from the moment of filing. To prevent the disruption of deadlines, the court involved another lawyer through the free legal aid system to participate in a separate procedural action – the consideration of the motion.
Realizing that the lawyer's absence did not help disrupt the hearing, the defenders of the second accused – Vitaliy Rusakov – filed a motion to recuse prosecutor Dmytro Tkachuk. The court considered this motion and denied it.
After this, the court announced that due to the absence of Belotserkovska's primary defense lawyer, it could not conduct a full preliminary hearing and was forced to limit itself to considering only the urgent motions of the prosecutor's office – regarding preventive measures for the accused and the motion to suspend Rusakov from his position.
However, even this consideration was blocked by new procedural statements. Belotserkovska informed the court that she does not recognize the appointed lawyer and refuses his services, as she did not enter into a contract with him. On this basis, she orally filed a motion to recuse the presiding judge Volodymyr Chaplytskyi.
The recusal was supported by Rusakov's defender, who also filed his own motion to recuse the judge, citing doubts about his impartiality.
These statements were considered by another judge, Volodymyr Ivanchuk, and after hearing the arguments of the parties, he left all motions for recusal unsatisfied.
Interestingly, the accused Rusakov brought a support group to the court session, which actively reacted to all statements by the prosecution.
After this, a break was announced in the preliminary hearing until June 12, 2026, at 13:45. On Friday, the court will proceed to consider the prosecutor's motions regarding the selection of preventive measures for the doctors and the suspension of Rusakov from his position.
Thus, the preliminary hearing in the case again failed to be held in full. A series of motions for postponement, recusals of the prosecutor and the judge, as well as the refusal of the appointed defender, actually led to another delay in the consideration of the high-profile case, which has been under court consideration for a long time.
It is worth adding that despite the seriousness of the charges of improper performance of professional duties that could have led to the death of a patient, Vitaliy Rusakov returned to medical practice in April and continues to operate at "Odrex." As he himself stated in one of his videos, during this time he has performed 45 surgical interventions. Apparently, the private clinic is not used to worrying about patient safety.
Recall
The Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa was supposed to proceed to one of the key stages in the case of possible medical negligence by doctors of the private clinic Odrex – the examination of medical evidence and hearing an oncology expert. It was at this stage that the parties were to receive a professional assessment of the actions of the accused medics and the compliance of the treatment with medical standards. However, instead of analyzing the medical component, the process again switched to procedural disputes: the defense of one of the accused doctors initiated the transfer of the case to another court. Lawyers for the victim's side called such actions a delay in the consideration of the case, while the accused himself is conducting an active public campaign on his own social networks.
The Odesa Court of Appeal granted the defense's motion and decided to transfer the criminal proceedings regarding Rusakov and Belotserkovska from the Prymorskyi District Court to the Kyivskyi District Court of Odesa. In connection with this, the hearing of the case began from the start.
Apparently realizing that the doctors will not be able to avoid criminal liability, the defense is resorting to the tactic of delaying the trial, likely hoping that the case will be closed due to the statute of limitations.