Igor Pavlovsky, a former aide to lawmaker Mykola Palamarchuk, has been detained on suspicion of abetting the murder of Kherson activist Kateryna Gandziuk, Prosecutor General’s Office spokeswoman Larisa Sargan announced on Nov. 12.
She said Pavlovsky had been arrested on Nov. 10 in Kherson. A court ordered his detention without the right to bail. He is suspected of co-organizing an attack on Gandziuk, who was doused with a liter of acid on July 31 and died in a hospital three months later on Nov. 4 from chemical burns and multiple organ failure.
Pavlovky’s name as a suspect in the case had leaked to media last week. Gandziuk’s friends claimed that he was an intermediary between those who ordered the murder and the hitmen.
In August, police arrested five people suspected of being involved in the attack on Gandziuk – all former veterans of the war in the Donbas. Four of them were detained for 60 days. The fifth suspect was placed under house arrest with electronic monitoring. After Gandziuk’s death, the case was reclassified from attempted murder to premeditated murder, and transferred to Ukraine’s SBU security service for investigation.
The SBU was reported on Nov. 10 to have raided the apartment of a member of Kherson Oblast council, Mykola Stavitsky.
