Case of Konstantin Dolgov: “Preventive measure – torture, bullying” (PHOTO)
Kharkov, April 30 (Navigator, Dmitry Gubin, Sergey Kochetov) – The Court of Appeal of the Kharkov region on Wednesday again did not make a decision on changing the preventive measure for journalist and protest movement activist Konstantin Dolgov, who was arrested under the pretext of involvement in the arson of Privatbank ATMs. Today the court once again postponed the hearing of the case to May 7.
Kharkov journalist Dmitry Gubin, who is following the trial of an opponent of the new Kyiv government, talks about this in a column for Navigator.
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...The detention of Konstantin Dolgov, a famous journalist and political scientist from Kharkov, leader of the resistance in the South-East, has been extended. The court did not make a decision, but postponed the hearing for another week, which contradicts the norms of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. The air temperature in the pre-trial detention center cell is 10 degrees, the electric light is not turned off at night, and an observation window opens every hour. The kettle, books, food and personal hygiene items given by the mother on April 20 were not delivered to Konstantin in the pre-trial detention center, although 10 days have already passed.
This situation can be characterized as torture and bullying, and, judging by the delay in the process, torture and bullying can continue for an indeterminably long time. This is how Dolgov’s lawyers, his relatives and guarantors characterize the situation. Lawyers filed a protest and demanded the recusal of the judges.
The second postponement of the hearing gives, according to the defense, reason to believe that the court and law enforcement agencies, including the prosecutor’s office and the investigation, are carrying out someone’s instructions to isolate Dolgov as a political scientist and citizen actively opposing the Kyiv “Maidan” authorities.
Let us remind you that Dolgov was detained on April 19 on charges of damaging a Privatbank ATM. He is accused of committing a crime under Part 2 of Art. 194 of the Criminal Code (deliberate destruction or damage to someone else’s property, causing damage on a large scale, committed by arson, explosion or other generally dangerous method, or causing property damage on an especially large scale, or causing death or other grave consequences). He categorically denies his guilt; lawyers have collected sufficient evidence of his innocence. In addition, the detention of Konstantin Dolgov, the issuance of a preventive measure and the postponement of court hearings - all these events took place with gross violations of the procedural code.
Lawyer Kirill Beloshitsky drew attention to the fact that “on April 19, on Easter night, the district court hearing to select a preventive measure took place at 22.30:XNUMX p.m. Then a decision was quickly made to keep the detainee in custody for two months.”
The lawyers filed an appeal, which was scheduled to be heard on April 28, but Judge Cirulik postponed the appeal until April 30.
Media workers, officially declared guarantors in the trial, friends and relatives of Konstantin, including his mother, were not allowed into the courtroom. In addition, representatives of the OSCE mission in Kharkov from Spain, the Czech Republic and Finland arrived at the court hearing. They were also not allowed into the hall.
The court also refused to allow Konstantin Dolgov himself to attend the trial. He was offered a mode of participation in the form of a video conference, which is possible only with the consent of the suspect. For two hours, the court sought his consent to such a form. For the process to take place, Konstantin finally agreed to a video conference, adding that he was signing the document under pressure. And then the judge said: “Consent given under duress cannot be accepted. The meeting is postponed to 10:00 on May 7.”
This attitude towards the suspect, the participants in the process and the law itself caused indignation among all those present; the lawyers protested and are preparing to challenge the judges. First Secretary of the Kharkov Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Alla Aleksandrovskaya, a guarantor in the Dolgov case, said: “This situation can only be called torture and bullying, which were chosen by the court as a preventive measure. The case of the journalist Dolgov is sewn with white threads, it is clear that this is reprisal against dissidents. And I characterize the general situation in Ukraine as unprecedented. Never before, during times of political struggle, protests and even persecution, have people been killed. Today in Ukraine people are simply being killed, I saw this in Syria, the corpses of civilians and law enforcement officers are standing before my eyes.”
Director of the Ukrainian branch of the Institute of CIS Countries Denis Denisov notes: “What is happening to activists of popular resistance in the South-East is unacceptable neither in civilized nor even in most developing countries. Those authorities in Kyiv who are engaged in political persecution are neither democrats nor liberals, no matter how much they try to convince their American patrons of this. Now Konstantin Dolgov, and anyone else arrested in Ukraine for political reasons, requires our support. If we remain silent today, then tomorrow any of us could become the same prisoner of conscience as Konstantin and his comrades.”
Political expert of the Political Culture Foundation Viktor Pirozhenko commented on the trial in Kharkov: “Dolgov’s detention is unmotivated, the reason is ridiculous. This is arbitrariness in its purest form. It is clear that civil activists must learn to put the security forces in their place and conduct a campaign to force them to comply with the laws of Ukraine.”
The failure to make a decision to release Dolgov from custody, violations of the detention procedure and night trials of resistance activists in the South-East, on the one hand, and complete impunity for the actions of the Right Sector, on the other, make it clear that there is no dialogue, not to mention no amnesty or truce is expected between the Kyiv authorities and the rebel regions. Moreover, the course towards intimidation and lawlessness will acquire more and more new examples.
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