Lawyers: Court violates rights of suspected Orthodox journalists

Andriy Ovcharenko. Photo: UOJ

Lawyers for the Orthodox journalists believe that the Kyiv Court of Appeal is violating the rights of the suspects.

In a comment to the UOJ, the lawyers stated that on May 29, 2024, a session of the Kyiv Court of Appeal was supposed to consider an appeal against the decision of the investigating judge to extend the detention of Orthodox journalist Andriy Ovcharenko.

However, Judge Melnyk of the Kyiv Court of Appeal postponed the consideration of the appeal "due to the failure to deliver the detained Ovcharenko to the courtroom."

The court explained that they were unable to deliver Andriy Ovcharenko to the courtroom because the escorting ot the suspect had not been coordinated with the investigator.

Lawyers emphasize that this is not the first instance where the investigator has failed to arrange the convoy.

At the same time, in all judicial processes initiated by the investigation, detainees are delivered on time.

Lawyers consider such actions "a violation of the rights of the suspects to a fair consideration of the appeal."

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the SBU had not provided any grounds why the UOJ journalist should be in a pre-trial detention center.

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