Shelling of the airfield in the Kirovohrad region: the court kept ex-intelligence officer Roman Chervinskyi in custody for another month

On June 19, the Shevchenkivskyi court of Kyiv considered the request of the prosecutorʼs office and kept ex-intelligence officer Roman Chervinskyi in custody for another month — until July 21. The meeting was held behind closed doors, reports "Suspilne".

"Hiding the shame of the prosecutorʼs office is the only reason why the hearing in the case of Roman Chervinskyi, who is unjustly accused, is taking place behind closed doors. They close the meeting so that society does not know what shame is happening here. But all the information will still be reported, all the documents provided by the prosecutorʼs office are not classified," Roman Chervinskyiʼs lawyer Viktor Vasylyuk said.

According to Vasylyuk, the court granted the request for questioning of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny.

"Now we are trying to call the headquarters. For Zaluzhnyi to come to the court session and testify. We talked with him before that, and he promised to give a truthful statement in this case," said the accusedʼs lawyer.

Another lawyer, Serhii Lysenko, believes that the meeting was closed so that journalists could not get there. According to him, the court did not take into account the circumstances that Chervinskyiʼs mother has currently lost her eyesight, and his wife is disabled. Three children are also dependent on him.

According to the lawyer, the term of the pre-trial investigation was extended to three months, and the court has no right to extend the term of detention more than the duration of the pre-trial investigation. The defense will appeal the courtʼs decision.

• The case concerns the failed hijacking of a Russian plane, which, according to the investigation, led to a Russian missile attack on the Kanatove airfield in the Kirovohrad region in July 2022. The plan was that a recruited Russian pilot would fly to Ukraine, where Ukrainians would meet him, help him hide, and pay him.
• On April 21, the SBU reported the suspicion to ex-intelligence officer Roman Chervinskyi. The SBU claims that Chervinsky arbitrarily organized a failed special operation to hijack a Russian military plane, which led to the leakage of data about the airfield.
• On April 20, it became known that the Security Service of Ukraine initiated a criminal case due to the unsuccessful operation of the Ukrainian military to hijack a Russian plane.
• On April 24, the SBU detained Roman Chervinskyi.
• On April 25, according to a court decision , Chervinsky was arrested for two months without bail.