16:14 29.01.2019

Levin's lawyer says client has nothing to do with Handziuk's murder

2 min read

KYIV. Dec 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Mykhailo Velychko, the lawyer for Oleksiy Levin, who is suspected of organizing the murder of Kateryna Handziuk, former acting administrator of the executive committee of Kherson City Council and advisor to the Kherson mayor says his client has nothing to do with the crime.

"Oleksiy Levin has absolutely nothing to do with the preparation and implementation of this crime. According to my client, whom I have no reason to disbelieve, he was not acquainted with Handziuk and never met her. He did not have conflicts with her," Levin said.

Velichko is also convinced that Levin did not acquire the procedural status of a suspect in the case, since he was not handed a suspicion because of his stay outside Ukraine.

The lawyer stressed that attributing the crime to Levin is a mistake, pointing out that in 2016 Mykolaiv region's appeals court issued a determination by which Moskalenko (Levin) was convicted and received a 12-year jail sentence, like his father.

"Even before this court verdict was passed, Moskalenko (Levin) was released from custody in court, taking into account the Savchenko law in force at that time," the lawyer said.

As earlier reported, Ukraine's SBU State Security Service on January 21 put Levin (Moskalenko) on the wanted list. Levin, born in 1977, disappeared on August 19, 2018.

Unidentified person poured concentrated sulfuric acid over Handziuk in the vicinity of her house in Kherson on July 31. The victim suffered severe chemical burns and had to be taken to the local hospital. Soon she was transferred to a hospital in Kyiv.

Reports appeared on November 4, 2018 that Handziuk had died.

On November 5, 2018, the media liaison office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine reported that the investigative actions in the Handziuk case and the criminal proceedings had been transferred to the SBU Security Service of Ukraine.

Earlier, police detained five suspects in the attempted murder of the activist.

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