You're reading: Legal ‘guardian angel’ comes to rescue of EuroMaidan detainee

When Ksenia Prokonova, a lawyer supporting EuroMaidan, found out that a 21-year old student detained after Jan. 19 clashes needs legal help, she didn’t hesitate to volunteer.

“I saw the Facebook post saying that one of the
detained students will face the court in a few days and critically needs to
find a lawyer,” says Prokonova, 28. “I knew almost nothing about the case, but
decided to help.”

That’s how Vadym Kovaliov, 21, a student of National
University of Theatre, Film and TV in Kyiv, got his guardian angel.

Kovaliov was among other six students detained after
the violent standoff between demonstrators and riot police officers that
started on Jan. 19. Police accused him of participating in clashes on
Hrushevskoho Street. Kovaliov says he was protesting, but peacefully. He is one
of the authors of a short documentary about the protesters that got over 70,000
views online.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrUM1GUy5Xk

Prokonova arrived in Kyiv from Odessa on Jan. 22. She recalls
she bought a ticket to the train just 30 minutes before the departure. “And
then the train was 1.5 hours late so I had to run straight to the court,”
Prokonova recalls.

However, the defendant turned out to be still in the
hospital, and she went to meet him. She was impressed to see that about 20 police
officers were watching him there; even parents weren’t allowed to see their
son.

“I couldn’t talk to Kovaliov privately, but we still
managed to discuss the situation,” Prokonova told the Kyiv Post. “He said he
received good medical help.”

On the evening of Jan. 22, Prokonova persuaded the
court to give Kovaliov house arrest instead of detention. At the hearing she focused on the shortcomings
in the case and hasty preparation
of the case by the prosecutor, as well as on the
injuries Kovaliov got while in detention.

Four other students arrested with Kovaliov were lucky
to get house arrest, while two others were ordered to spend one month under
arrest.

It was Prokonova’s first EuroMaidan case, but the
lawyer intends to help the protesters again. Now Prokonova visits Kyiv
hospitals and looks for new cases.

Prokonova is one of over 100 lawyers on the list of
EuroMaidan SOS, a group of activists working on legal help to the protesters.

Ksenia Prokonova, a lawyer from Odessa, volunteered to help detained student.

“Many
private lawyers and those from Ukraine’s lawyers association already expressed
their will to help activists,” says Zoriana Khrystyna, a EuroMaidan SOS
activist.

Prokonova says she found some very strange facts in
the protocol of the Kovaliov’s case. The paper said that Kovaliov and five
other students were arrested “because of numerous media reports on mass
disturbances on the European Square and Hrushevskoho Street.”  

“The police can take anyone on the streets these days
with the same result,” Prokonova says.

“We’re under house arrest, the investigation continues,”
one of the students detained on Jan. 19, Andriy Kotliar wrote on his Facebook
page on Jan. 23, the day after the court hearing. “I want to thank you all for
support. You’re the best thing that happened in my life.” 

Kyiv Post staff writer
Olena Goncharova can be reached at
[email protected]