You're reading: Court leaves suspect in attack on journalist Chornovol in custody

A panel of judges of Kyiv's Court of Appeal has left Serhiy Kotenko, a man suspected of beating activist and journalist Tetiana Chornovol, in custody. 

An Interfax-Ukraine reporter said that at a meeting on Tuesday the court’s panel of judges considered an appeal lodged by Kotenko’s defense team, but rejected it.

At the beginning of the court session the court banned journalists from taking photos and shooting videos.

Kotenko’s lawyer filed a motion requesting a number of documents that served as grounds for choosing the measure of restraint for her client in the form of arrest, but the court rejected the request.

The lawyer also noted in her explanations that she thinks the decision by an investigating judge of Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court to take Kotenko in custody is groundless, as the prosecutor’s office has not provided sufficient evidence of a crime allegedly committed by Kotenko. She said that there would be no risks during the selection of another measure of restraint not related to arrest. In this regard, she asked the court to change the measure of restraint for her client to house arrest.

The prosecutor in the trial, Oleksandr Tsariov, in turn, asked the court to reject the appeal. The state prosecutor said that Kotenko was reasonably suspected of having committed a serious crime, noting that he was on the wanted list.

The panel of judges announced only the regulatory part of the decision, which says: “The ruling issued by the investigating judge of the Pechersky Court on Dec. 27, which applied detention as a measure of restraint for Serhiy Kotenko has been left unchanged, and the appeal has been rejected.”

The full text of the decision of the Court of Appeal will be announced on Jan. 21 at 1400.

As reported, Chornovol was beaten in Kyiv region in the early hours of Dec. 25, 2013. She was driving her car when she was forced off the road by a dark-colored car. Unidentified individuals pulled the journalist out of the car and beat her up, pushing her car into a ditch.

The police first opened criminal proceedings under Part 2, Article 269 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (disorderly conduct), which were later re-qualified for Part 2, Article 121 of the Criminal Code (causing grievous bodily harm).

The police detained five suspects involved in the attack: Oleksandr Khramtsov, Serhiy Kotenko and his brother Oleksandr Kotenko, and Andriy Nasikovsky, who hosted Serhiy Kotenko in his flat on the night the crime was committed. The name of the fifth suspect is not disclosed.

On Dec. 27, a court ruled to put the four suspects in custody as a preventive measure until Feb. 23, 2014.

The Porsche Cayenne car used in the attack on Chornovol was registered as belonging to Khramtsov. However, some media reported that Khramtsov sold this car to Kotenko, who had paid only a part of the total price to Khramtsov, so the car still was registered as belonging to the latter.

On Dec. 28, a court ruled to arrest a fifth suspected attacker. The Interior Ministry said that the suspect was detained on Dec. 27. This is a 34-year old resident of Dniprodzerzhynsk (Dnipropetrovsk region) who worked in a security guard service. He said that he came to Kyiv to buy Porsche Cayenne car. He confessed that he personally took part in beating the journalist.

Chornovol is a well-known journalist and social activist who has published a series of investigative materials concerning incumbent high-ranking officials.