Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky district court has ruled to send to the budget UAH 1.35 million of bail paid for editor-in-chief of the online newspaper Strana.ua Ihor Huzhva and warranted law enforcers to bring him to court by force to decide on arresting him.
The court handed down the relevant decision on February 5, according to Ukrainian Prosecutor General's press secretary Larysa Sargan.
Read alsoStrana.ua editor-in-chief Huzhva facing up to 10 years in prison, seizure of property"On February 5, 2018, the Shevchenkivsky district court granted the request of the prosecutor to send to the budget the UAH 1.35 million bail... A warrant was also issued to detain Huzhva to bring him to court to decide whether to change the measure of restraint for keeping in custody," Sargan wrote on Twitter.
Huzhva confirmed this information, noting that the authorities organized pressure on Austria where he is at the moment.
"Yesterday, the court ordered to detain me and deliver to court (if this does not happen, the next step is putting me on a wanted list.) At the same time, Bankova ordered to set up pressure on Austria through diplomatic channels in order to ensure my extradition," Huzhva wrote on Facebook.
Read alsoStrana.ua editor-in-chief Huzhva seeks asylum in Austria over death threats in UkraineAs UNIAN reported earlier, Huzhva was detained on Thursday evening, June 22, after a police had raid the Strana.ua editorial office. Criminal proceedings were initiated against him under Article 189 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (extortion). According to the law enforcers, Huzhva together with his accomplice Anton Filipkovskiy demanded $20,000 from MP Dmytro Linko. Huzhva was detained after he had received half the amount of $10,000. Huzhva called the charges against him for extortion "fabricated".
On June 24, the court ruled to remand Huzhva in custody, setting a bail at UAH 544,000.
On June 26, Huzhva was bailed out by his deputy, Svitlana Kriukova.
