Investigation into businessman Tarasov called into question: court finds violation of defence rights

The Pechersky District Court of the capital has removed the senior investigator in the criminal proceedings against agribusinessman Serhiy Tarasov. The decision was made by investigating judge Iryna Hryhorenko.
The court granted the defence's request and removed senior investigator Maksym Shcherbunczak, who headed a group of 33 investigators, from the investigation. The ruling is final and cannot be appealed.
According to the lawyers, the grounds for the recusal were the investigator's bias, violation of the right to defence, failure to provide materials of the criminal proceedings for review for over a year, and failure to comply with reasonable time limits for pre-trial investigation.
The court agreed with the defence's arguments and concluded that these circumstances cast doubt on the objectivity and legality of the pre-trial investigation.
This is already the fourth head of the investigation team to be recused from the proceedings against Tarasov.
‘When four heads of investigation teams are recused in a row, we are talking about systemic violations in the organisation of the investigation, which cast doubt on the objectivity and legality of the entire investigation,’ said Serhiy Tarasov's lawyer Oleksandr Gardetskyi on Facebook.
According to the defence, procedural violations have been recorded since February 2023, in particular regarding access to case materials and delays in the investigation.
Gardetsky explained that the removal of the senior investigator means that a new head of the investigation team must be appointed and the organisation of the pre-trial investigation must be reviewed.