The tactic of "postponements": how the lawyer of People's Deputy Kuzminykh, accused of bribery, turns justice into a game of time

Postponing court hearings on lawsuits by defense lawyers may be a delaying tactic. There are several legal grounds for this at once, the most common being familiarization with the case materials or certificates of cross-hearings. This was told to UNN by Oleksandr Sytnykov, a retired judge of the Supreme Administrative Court, a lawyer. 

Details

It is the duty of every lawyer to attend court hearings of his client. However, lawyers often manipulate the norms of legislation and use them to delay the trial in the interests of their clients. 

Oleksandr Sytnykov, a retired judge of the Supreme Administrative Court, told UNN in an exclusive commentary that there are many methods to delay the process. 

There are many such methods. Lawyers ask for a postponement in order to, for example, familiarize themselves with the materials, or because they have two meetings at the same time. There can be many possible tactics and options. And postponing meetings is definitely one of the tactics to delay the process 

Let's note

According to Ukrainian legislation (in particular, Civil Procedure Code, Commercial Procedure Code and Criminal Procedure Code), the court has the right to postpone the court hearing if there are reasonable grounds. Among them: 

• failure of a party to appear for a valid reason (illness, business trip, force majeure);
• non-appearance of a lawyer or defender (valid reason for the absence of a lawyer, replacement of a lawyer (the new representative needs time to familiarize himself with the case);
• failure to meet procedural deadlines (the party did not have time to familiarize themselves with the case materials, claims/responses/evidence were submitted late);
• the need to request additional evidence (a request has been submitted for the request of documents, an examination is required, questioning of witnesses, other procedural actions);
• challenge to a judge or panel of judges;
• change in the procedural status of the person;
• violation of the rules of notification of the parties (if the party did not receive the summons properly).

Let's add

It is likely that the lawyer of the accused in bribery People's Deputy Serhiy Kuzminykh abuses the norms of the law and ignores court hearings. As UNN wrote earlier, he repeatedly delayed the trial, giving preference to other hearings. 

Once again, the defender prefers other procedural actions to this criminal proceeding 

The accused Serhiy Kuzminykh himself has already disrupted the court hearing 22 times. At the same time, there were a total of 86 court hearings scheduled in his case. That is, Kuzminykh ignored almost every 4th meeting. This was reported by the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court in response to a UNN request.

At the same time, the MP did not attend the meeting of the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court under the pretext of a business trip to Moldova to strengthen inter-parliamentary cooperation. As UNN explained to the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, the MP was not obliged to surrender his foreign passports and inform the prosecution about leaving the country.

As the former Deputy Prosecutor General, lawyer Oleksiy Bahanets, explained, the prosecution should ask the court to change Kuzminykh's measure of restraint to detention due to his failure to fulfill his procedural duties.

Let us remind you

People's Deputy, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Activities of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Health Serhiy Kuzminykh was caught "red-handed" while receiving an illegal benefit of 558 thousand hryvnias. According to the investigation, he received funds for assisting in the signing of contracts between private companies and one of the hospitals in the Zhytomyr region for the supply of medical equipment. 

At the end of January 2022, the NABU recorded the transfer of money and published a video about it. In it, a person with a voice similar to Kuzminykh promises his assistance and adds that he can resolve issues with all medical institutions in the region. 

On January 31, 2022, the then Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova signed a suspicion to him. Serhiy Kuzminykh was not detained due to "deputy immunity", but he ignored interrogations, which is why he was put on the wanted list. After several days of "hiding", the MP was still detained to choose a measure of restraint.

In May 2022, Kuzminykh was chosen a measure of restraint in the form of a bail of 49 thousand 600 hryvnias. Of course, the bail for the people's choice was made.

In September 2022, the indictment in the case against Kuzminykh was sent to the High Anti-Corruption Court for consideration on the merits. The stage of evidence examination is currently underway.