The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) blocked the possibility of a paid camera for NABU detective Ruslan Maghamedrasulov and his father.
This was stated by the head of SAPO Oleksandr Klymenko during a meeting of the Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy on February 26.
"We also had operational information that the paid cameras for Ruslan and his father were unavailable due to blocking by the Security Service. And we were given a message that the director should go to the head of the Service to resolve this issue," said Klymenko.
The NABU head Semen Kryvonos confirmed this and said he helped change that. Eventually, Maghamedrasulovʼs father received a cell with improved conditions, while the detective himself was in a free cellroom "with unpleasant neighbours".
This became known at the trial of former Minister of Energy and Justice Herman Halushchenko on February 17. The SAPO prosecutor read a message from Halushchenkoʼs phone, where his then deputy at the Ministry of Justice Yevhen Pikalov wrote that SBU had asked him to place Maghamedrasulov in a cell with poor conditions. A little later, Pikalov sent Halushchenko a photo of the cellroom. Halushchenko replied "+".
The head of the NABU detective unit Oleksandr Abakumov reported at the meeting the full text of the message from Pikalov to Halushchenko, dated July 21, 2025 — at that time, Herman Halushchenko had been in office as head of the Ministry of Justice for only six days:
"SBU has received a request to work in a pre-trial detention center with the detained head of the NABU unit. He will probably be given a preventive measure and brought to the Lukyanivska pre-trial detention center tomorrow. They are asking for a free cellroom with unpleasant neighbours. It is as if the defendant was rude to the SBU officers during searches. Now the SBU officers are going to the pre-trial detention center management for a meeting."
At a parliamentary committee meeting, Pikalov confirmed that his subordinates were approached by SBU with a request for a bad cell for Maghamedrasulov even before the detective was sent to the pre-trial detention center. But he does not know the names of the Security Service employees.
The MP Anastasia Radina reported that Ruslan Maghamedrasulov was living in a pre-trial detention center cell with a broken window before the Ombudsmanʼs visit. Pikalov assured that this was the first time he had heard about it.
He says that the detectiveʼs cellroom was "not the worst" and at the time of the inspection the temperature in the room was +21 °C. According to him, the cells next door were worse — there was mold everywhere, while the detectiveʼs was only in the bathroom.
Pikalov also stated that he sent a photo of the camera for Maghamedrasulov to Halushchenko just to show what it looked like.
- Ruslan Maghamedrasulov is one of the detectives who helped obtain a number of pieces of evidence in the Midas case, which involves former Minister Herman Halushchenko. Maghamedrasulov was detained on July 21, 2025. Ruslan and his father Sentyabr are accused of illegal business from the Russian Federation and the sale of industrial hemp to Dagestan. They were released from custody in December.
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