13:42 21.02.2017

Court allows PGO access to MP Novynsky's telephone information

3 min read
Court allows PGO access to MP Novynsky's telephone information

Kyiv's Pechersky district court has given permission to Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) to inspect information on the mobile telephones of Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada deputy Vadym Novynsky (Opposition Bloc faction). The PGO is investigating whether Novynsky falsely imprisoned Metropolitan Oleksandr (Drabynko) – an aide of the late Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan).

The corresponding decision has been included in the unified register of court decisions, meaning the motion filed by PGO has been approved.

"The investigator from the PGO's main investigation bureau and members of the investigation team are given temporary access to information sources of the operator of mobile [communications] … and the right to gather evidence," the court ruling says.

According to the court ruling, access is given to collect information on [Novynsky's] incoming and outgoing calls from June 2013 through 2014.

As reported, the pretrial investigation is underway pursuant to Part 2 of Article 146 (kidnapping) and Part 1 of Article 365 (exceeding authority or grants of authority by a law-enforcement organ) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine based on Ukraine's Criminal Code. It involves Novynsky, former Ukrainian President Yanukovych and former Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko, former Kyiv Police Chief Valeriy Koriak, as well as other employees of Kyiv's law-enforcement agencies. The men are suspected of holding Metropolitan of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytsky Oleksandr Drabynko, the personal aide of Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan), against his will.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said earlier: "Yanukovych attempted to appoint his allies to high church posts. Without means to legally replace Sabodan, Yanukovych decided to force Sabodan to abdicate… and to appoint Metropolitan of Boryspil and Brovary Antoniy (Pakanych) as a replacement … in order for the latter to influence the mood in the society."

The PGO head said Zakharchenko, in turn, ordered Koriak to collect information about people close to Metropolitan Volodymyr. Ukraine's former Interior Minister was supposed to illegally detain Bishop Oleksandr (Drabynko), which would have forced the head of the church to resign from his position.

According to Lutsenko, Zakharchenko forced Drabynko to write a statement requesting security from the court police unit Gryfon. Koriak, in turn, granted the request and "isolated Drabynko."

The security detail turned into a convoy, Lutsenko said.

Koriak then "gave Gryfon the order" to keep Drabynko in the Opera Hotel, that is, kept him against his will there, and later moved Drabynko to another location.

In addition, Zakharchenko demanded Drabynko to urge Volodymyr to resign.

"All these events are backed by up witness testimony," Lutsenko said, adding that on September 5, 2013 there was a meeting between Yanukovych, Novynsky, Metropolitan Volodymyr and Drabynko, during which "Yanukovych tasked Novynsky with keeping Drabynko in confinement. Novynsky agreed to obey the instructions."

According to Lutsenko, from September 2013 through December 2013 Novynsky reported by telephone information about the whereabouts of Drabynko (some 40 calls were made from Novynsky's telephone to Koriak).

In December, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has upheld the motion of Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko for his consent to strip Vadym Novynsky's parliamentary immunity from prosecution.

The parliament partially stripped Novinsky of his parliamentary immunity upholding the prosecutor general's motion and permitting criminal prosecution against him. However, law enforcement agencies will be able neither to apprehend nor use a restrictive measure in the form of arrest against Novinsky, because this requires further permission from the Verkhovna Rada.

On February 15, 2017, Lutsenko said that the Prosecutor General's Office will soon notify Novynsky of suspicion and will send his case to court. "With regard to Novynsky, we received very important data about an attempt to poison Metropolitan Volodymyr," he said.

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