On Monday, July 15, the next meeting in the case of journalist Kirill Vyshinsky, who has been detained for more than a year, was to take place in the Podolsky district court of Kiev. Before the trial began, the lawyers for the head of the RIA Novosti Ukraine portal announced their intention to file a petition to change the preventive measure.
The ombudsman for Russia Tatiana Moskalkova arrived in Kiev to support the journalist, who met with her Ukrainian counterpart Lyudmila Denisova before the meeting. However, Kirill Vyshinsky did not have time to go to the courtroom with his lawyers, when the meeting was announced that the meeting was postponed, after which they were again handcuffed to the journalist and taken out of the room.
- Vyshinsky answered the question about well-being
The court clerk reported that the meeting was postponed to Friday, July 19, due to the fact that one of the members of the judicial panel was at the time of the hearing in the meeting room for another case and could not be present in the courtroom. And without the presence of all members of the collegium, the meeting could not take place. Later this information was confirmed to journalists by the head of the so-called prosecutor’s office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Yevgeny Komarovsky.
Commenting on the course of the case, the defense has confirmed that it will insist on changing the measure of restraint from detention to personal bail. In turn, the prosecution announced its intention to “take measures” so that Vyshinsky could not leave the mainland of Ukraine if he was released from custody.
Speaking in the courtroom with a short speech, Tatyana Moskalkova stated that she did not have information as to whether the postponement of the consideration of the case of Cyril Vyshinsky was connected with any issues of interchange between the suspects and convicted citizens of Russia and Ukraine. The Ombudsman added that the Chief Editor of RIA Novosti Ukraine itself is against the exchange and will seek to be found not guilty.
“Never on the courts connected with the extension of the detention did not hear convincing evidence of his guilt,” Moskalkova said.
The Ombudsman added that, unfortunately, she would not be able to attend the meeting on July 19, as she would be busy at an important event in Moscow. However, the ombudsman asked the court to take into account her position, with which she officially addressed the chairman of the collegium: change the measure of restraint to Vyshinsky to not involve deprivation of liberty.
In addition, Moskalkova expressed the hope that under the new Ukrainian government headed by Vladimir Zelensky and the “new U-turn of the Constitutional Court”, a fair decision would be made in the Vyshinsky case.
Later on the TV channel "Russia 24" she said that the judges of the Podolsky district court were under pressure, including from officials.
“I learned that there were threats to the judges directly, and from the officials, with a warning, God forbid, decide on the release of Vyshinsky,” said Moskalkova.
She also added that the radicals were preparing a provocation outside the court building in order to prevent the possible release of the editor-in-chief of RIA Novosti Ukraine.
- Vyshinsky removed from the courthouse
The meeting did indeed take place in a somewhat tense atmosphere, since a group of nationalists arranged a rally outside the courthouse, where several dozen law enforcement officers were also on duty. In order to avoid possible excesses, the Russian ombudsman left the court building in a tight circle of police officers who escorted her to the car.
In addition, a few hours before the meeting, the press secretary of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Larisa Sargan, posted a message to Facebook, stating that Kirill Vyshinsky, who is under arrest on July 15, may be released by a court decision.
Moreover, in one of the previous posts, Sargan drew the attention of one of the leaders of the Ukrainian ultra-right forces, Verkhovna Rada deputy Dmitry Yarosh, who replied that "he passed the information to the Kiev lads." This time, radical demonstrations did without emergency situations, but Andrei Domansky, Vyshinsky’s lawyer, pointed out the unacceptability of such behavior on the part of an official, for whom “they resign in civilized countries”.
Commenting on the postponement of the meeting on the Vyshinsky case on July 19, the head of the international department of the Union of Journalists of Russia Timur Shafir told RIA Novosti that this decision was “a bad call for those who fabricated the case against Cyril, for those who understand that this contrived case is scattered on eyes, and they are all the forces trying to delay the time ". The interviewee added that such delays will attract even more attention to the process from the international community.
Meanwhile, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, noted that the absurdity of the accusations against Vyshinsky had already become obvious to everyone.
“It seems to me that, apart from extreme nationalists or people who use every opportunity to advance their political career - and in this case, probably political ... survival - everyone else in Ukraine understands that this is a farce, this is absurd, this is then it’s absolutely insane to keep a person without any particular claims to him, without making anything but what they call “treason,” Zakharova said on the air of Komsomolskaya Pravda radio.
In turn, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Arlem Desir, noted that the lingering pretrial detention of the head of the RIA Novosti Ukraine portal causes serious concern in the organization.
“At this crucial moment, I again call for his release,” he said.
Speaking about the progress of the case, the Director General of the MIA "Russia Today" Dmitry Kiselyov urged the Ukrainian authorities to move away from the "exchange" category and allow justice to settle existing cases in the legal field.
"Cyril Vyshinsky, our colleague and friend, was taken, seized just on the street and thrown on the bench from May 15 last year, only as a kind of exchange fund ... Now it’s time to move away from this category, which Poroshenko invented, and give justice to taxi in the direction that Ukraine began to become a normal country. This chance is missed today, ”Kiselev said on the air of Russia 24.
We add that on Tuesday, July 16, a re-meeting of ombudsmen of Russia and Ukraine will take place in Moscow, during which Tatyana Moskalkova and Lyudmila Denisova will discuss the protection of Russian citizens in Ukraine and Ukrainian citizens in Russia, as well as the development of cooperation between human rights institutions of the two countries in humanitarian sphere.