Viktor Medvedchuk / Photo from UNIAN, by Oleksandr Synytsia

The Court of Appeals has kept Member of Parliament from the Opposition Platform – For Life Viktor Medvedchuk under round-the-clock house arrest.

The ruling was passed by the panel of judges of the Kyiv Court of Appeals, a UNIAN correspondent reported.

Thus, the court dismissed the appeals of both the defense and the prosecution, and also refused to free Medvedchuk on 26 lawmakers' recognizance.

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Background

  • On May 11, 2021, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said she had signed off charges of high treason and attempted plunder of national resources in Russian-occupied Crimea, targeting MPs from the Opposition Platform – For Life Party Viktor Medvedchuk and Taras Kozak, under Articles 111 (treason) and 438 (violation of the laws and customs of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
  • Operatives with the SBU Security Service of Ukraine raided Medvedchuk's homes in Kyiv, as well as his party's office.
  • On May 12, 2021, Medvedchuk was given a suspicion notice. He is facing charges on three counts.
  • On May 12, 2021, Medvedchuk reported to the Office of the Prosecutor General, stating he considered the case politically motivated, and the accusations were unsubstantiated.
  • Taras Kozak has crossed out of Ukraine, investigators say.
  • On May 13, 2021, Kyiv's Pechersk District Court placed Medvedchuk under house arrest. He was obliged to wear an ankle monitor.
  • On May 15, 2021, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov assessed the probability of Medvedchuk being exchanged for Ukrainian citizens held in Russian prisons. "The decision on the exchange is made by the President of Ukraine. I think, if there is such an opportunity, we will gladly do it," he said.
  • On May 18, 2021, the Office of the Prosecutor General and lawyers appealed against Medvedchuk's 24/7 house arrest. Prosecutors insisted on the application of a preventive measure in the form of detention with the alternative of paying bail worth about UAH 300 million, Medvedchuk's lawyers demanded the preventive measure be eased.