UOJ journalists' lawyers accuse investigator of manipulation

Volodymyr Bobechko, Valeriy Stupnitsky, and Andriy Ovcharenko. Photo: UOJ

On August 19, 2024, during a court session regarding Investigator Savenko's motion to limit the time journalists from the UOJ and their defense lawyers had to review the case materials, the lawyers accused the investigator of manipulation.

Specifically, Valeriy Stupnitsky’s lawyer, Roman Gontarev, stated that even after the motion was filed, when all volumes should have been bound and numbered, Savenko repeatedly cited different numbers for the total volumes.

According to Gontarev, on August 16, a week after the investigator's motion was filed, Savenko claimed that, besides the first 10 volumes, the remaining ones were "not yet formed".

“On July 26, after access to the materials was granted, I asked the investigator how many volumes there were. He said about 30, then the number grew to 32, and then to 38. Today, I learned from this motion that there are supposedly 42 volumes. I am more than sure that, except for the first 10 volumes, the rest are not yet formed. That is, they are not bound, and the descriptions are not prepared,” said Gontarev. He expressed frustration that despite this, the investigator decided to submit a motion to the court claiming that the journalists were refusing to review the case. Gontarev requested that the court compel Savenko to provide all the materials or at least their description.

Interestingly, during the lawyer's statement, Investigator Savenko, sitting across from him, was seen sleeping with his head resting on his hands.

Gontarev emphasized that the case materials should be organized chronologically, with evidence of crimes presented first. According to the lawyer, the first 10 volumes provided to him for review contained no such evidence.

Andriy Ovcharenko's lawyer, Ilya Serafimov, requested the removal of Investigator Savenko due to his bias.

In particular, he noted that all the suspects had repeatedly asked the investigator to summon their lawyer when materials were brought for review. However, Savenko never complied. Serafimov also reported several instances where the investigator promised to send him copies of materials but failed to do so.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the court had limited the time for UOJ journalists to review the investigation materials.

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