Kyiv's Pechersky district court has denied a request to release former head of the Party of Regions parliamentary faction of the 7th convocation Oleksandr Yefremov from pretrial confinement, saying the term of his arrest, according to his lawyers, expired at 07:28 a.m. local time on Thursday, November 24.

Judge Volodymyr Karaban said Yefremov's pretrial confinement ended at midnight on November 24.

The issue of extending pretrial confinement for Yefremov is being mulled by the court for the fifth day, since November 19. A recess until 09:00 a.m. was called at 03:15 a.m. during the previous 17-hour-long hearing on November 23.

Yefremov is suspected of committing a number of criminal acts, including embezzlement (Article 191 of Part 5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine [CCU]), committing acts with intent to change state borders of Ukraine in violation of the Constitution leading to the death and injury of individuals (Article 110 of Part 3 of the CCU) and assisting in the creation of the Luhansk People's Republic terrorist organization (Article 258-3 of Part 1 of the CCU).