Kyiv’s Appeal Court has overturned the decision to reduce the amount of the bail as an alternative to the arrest of former Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara, suspected of intentional murder of businessman Serhiy Starytsky, and took him into custody in the courtroom.
“Kozhara has been returned a bail of Hr 14 million and ordered to be taken into custody in the courtroom. There is still hope for our justice,” Kateryna Starytska, the daughter of the murdered businessman wrote on her Facebook page.
Earlier, the court reduced Kozhara’s bail as an alternative to arrest from Hr 14.8 million to Hr 2.1 million. Kozhara was released after posting a bail.
The injured party appealed the decision to lower the bail.
On February 21, special line 102 received a message from a resident of the village of Chaika in the Kyiv region that a man who had come to visit from the capital committed suicide in the house. Later, information appeared that Serhiy Starytsky was shot dead in Kozhara’s house. The preliminary version of death is suicide. The shot was fired from a Jericho 941 pistol registered with the former foreign minister.
Starytsky co-founded Atlantic Group in 1992. The professional asset of Starytsky is under management of the Inter TV channel and the Department of International Relations of the Ukrainian State Television and Radio Company.
On February 24, the National Police reported that the death of businessman Starytsky was being investigated as a premeditated murder. It is noted that preliminary law enforcement officers established the presence in the house of three people: spouses and their guest. All three drank alcohol. According to the woman, she was in another room when the guest shot himself in the head with a gun from the owner.
On March 25, Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko said Kozhara was detained on suspicion of the intentional murder of Starytsky.
On March 26, the Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv remanded Kozhara to 60-day pretrial detention, setting bail in the amount of UAH 14,830,400.
