Former spy Roman Chervinskyi, whose disappearance was reported by his defense attorneys after the court session on April 19, has had his preventive measure extended and will continue to be held in custody until May 24, until the next court session. At the same time, Chervinskyiʼs defense insists that it happened illegally.
Babel was informed about this by Chervinskyiʼs lawyer Kostyantyn Hloba.
He noted that the court made a decision without the participation of lawyers, and also referred to Part 5 of Article 615 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allows for the automatic extension of a preventive measure in the event that it is impossible to hold a preparatory meeting under martial law.
Hloba insists that the court referred to this norm illegally, because the preparatory meeting in the Kirovohrad district court began on April 12 and "lasted all last week."
"As lawyers, we attended every court session," Hloba noted.
That is why, according to him, the argument about the impossibility of holding a preparatory meeting cannot withstand criticism.
Hloba said that on April 19, the court adjourned due to an air raid alarm that lasted until 5:34 p.m. and returned at 6:12 p.m., but left the courtroom again a few minutes later. At 18:14 there was an alarm again in the Kirovohrad region.
Usually during times of alarm, says Hloba, the court went either to their rooms or to the bomb shelter. There is no bomb shelter in the courthouse, lawyers usually looked for it in the city. Hloba explains that the secretary of the court session sometimes announced that 10 minutes after the alarm ended, the court session would resume.
"But that time the secretary didnʼt say that. In addition, the defense needs more time to get to court from the bomb shelter," says Hloba. He adds that they were not officially informed about the place and time of the postponement of the meeting.
After the [air raid] alarm ended, the lawyers arrived at the court, but the guards did not let them into the court premises.
"After the alarm, we arrived at the court, electronically filed statements with a request to continue the case. It was recorded on video, but the court was closed and we were not allowed inside," Hloba said, adding that the defense called an investigative team, which also consisted of one and a half hours were not allowed to go to court.
"Thus, the court made a decision without the presence of the defense. There were also no victims during the continuation of the preventive measure. That is, the preventive measure was continued not within the framework of the court session, but outside the court process. Even Chervinskyi was not present, but was somewhere on the territory of the court," noted Hloba and added that the decision was made approximately at 10:00-11:00 p.m.
Hloba also published a court decision on Facebook, which he considers illegal.
- Roman Chervinskyi served in a unit of the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine and was engaged in partisan activities in the occupied territories of the country. Chervinskyi held senior positions in military intelligence, as well as in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
- Now Roman Chervinskyi is in a pre-trial detention center. On April 21, 2023, he received suspicion in the case of the failed hijacking of a Russian plane in April-July 2022. The investigation believes that he and several other military personnel decided to conduct an "operation" to hijack a Russian plane without the consent of state authorities and special services. According to SBU, their actions gave Russia data on the placement of pilots and Ukrainian planes at the Kanatove airfield in the Kirovohrad region.
- On July 23, 2022, Russian troops launched a missile attack on the Kanatove airfield, killing the commander of the military unit, wounding 17 defenders, and destroying two Ukrainian fighter jets.
- On December 28, 2023, Roman Chervinskyi was informed of a new suspicion. The investigation believes that the man tried to get $100 000 by pretending to be an influential official of the State Fiscal Service.