A bail of nearly UAH 2.5 million has been posted for the recently arrested chairman of the Kherson Region Council, Vladyslav Manher, who is suspected of arranging the murder of Kherson-based civil activist Kateryna Handziuk, Manher's lawyer Dmytro Ilchenko has said.

"If I had accepted help from everyone who wanted to help Vladyslav Manher, we would have already raised over $2 million. I'm grateful to everyone who wanted to help. But in the end it was decided for bail to be paid by myself. In this way, we'll avoid another wave of allegations from [SBU officer Danylo] Dotsenko & Co. [who is allegedly involved in the Handziuk murder as testified by Manher] about the money. I am on my way to the treasurer's office," Ilchenko wrote on Facebook and attached a photograph of a bank receipt of bail payment.

Earlier on Friday, Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky District Court remanded Manher to pretrial confinement until March 3, 2019 for arranging the murder of Handziuk. The judge set bail at UAH 2.497 million, lawyer Masi Nayyem said.

As was earlier reported, an unknown person in Kherson on July 31, 2018 doused Handziuk with sulfuric acid. Handziuk died of complications on November 4, 2018.

Manher, a former member of the Batkivschyna Party, suspended his membership in the party in January 2019. He has denied all wrongdoing.