Volunteer Serhii Sternenko said that his case about self-defense was closed. The decision was made by the Prymorsky District Court of Odesa.
"The prosecution did not prove my guilt, there was no intent to commit murder in my actions. And it couldnʼt be, because I was defending my life during the third premeditated attack in 2018 in Odesa," he wrote in X.
Sternenkoʼs lawyer Masi Nayem confirmed the courtʼs positive decision in favor of the activist.
- Sternenko has been on trial since June 2020 on charges of premeditated murder and illegal carrying of a cold weapon. The case concerned the attack by Oleksandr Isaykul and Ivan Kuznetsov on Sternenko in 2018. Kuznetsov was killed by a knife wound in the fight, and Sternenko received several cuts. He claims that it was a premeditated attack because of his protests against the development of Odesa. He blames Mayor Gennady Trukhanov for organizing the attack. The second attacker Oleksandr Isaykul fled Ukraine.
- In June 2023, the perpetrator of the second attack, who in May 2018 shot Serhiy Sternenko in the back of the head with a traumatic pistol, was tried. Then the activist caught up and personally detained the attacker and handed him over to the police. The court found Abzal Baimukashev guilty and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.