Ukraine’s unaffiliated MP Nadiia Savchenko, who is now under arrest, has deliberately refused to undergo a psychological examination through a polygraph test, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has said.
“The service states that suspect Savchenko has deliberately refused to undergo a psychological examination through a polygraph test. The statement and demand by the defense team to provide them with all the materials available for the investigation to prepare for the examination are not envisaged by any article of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. This is just an attempt to mislead Ukrainian society and media representatives regarding Savchenko’s alleged interest in establishing the truth in this matter,” the SBU’s press center reported on Thursday, April 5.
The SBU said that even before being handed a notice of suspicion, Savchenko repeatedly stated in public that she would testify to the investigation on all circumstances of criminal proceedings solely with the use of a polygraph. She was informed in advance of the place and time of the examination with the use of a polygraph and obtained the evidence available to the investigation, which substantiates her suspicion.
“Instead, the suspect, in the presence of experts, refused to participate in the test, putting forward new requirements – first to provide her for examination with all the materials of the conducted secret investigative (detective) actions,” the statement reads.
The SBU stressed that conducting a psychological examination using a polygraph provides for specific answers of the interviewee in the form of “yes/no” to the questions posed by the expert, formed solely within the suspicion declared.
On March 22, the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada granted the prosecutor general’s recommendation and gave its consent to prosecute, detain, and arrest Savchenko. That same day, law enforcement officials notified Savchenko that she was being treated as a suspect at the parliament, after which they escorted her to the Ukrainian Security Service department for Kyiv and the Kyiv region.
The recommendation on depriving Savchenko of immunity from prosecution was made as part of criminal proceedings opened on counts of preparations for violently changing or dismantling the constitutional system or the seizure of power by a group of individuals acting in concert, preparations for the assassination of a statesperson or a public figure by a group of individuals acting in concert, preparations for a terrorist attack by a group of people acting in concert, the establishment of a terrorist group, and the illegal handling of weapons, ammunition, or explosives by a group of people acting in concert.
Kyiv’s Shevchenkivsky District Court ruled on March 23 to place Savchenko under arrest pending trial for 59 days, until May 20, 2018.
