KYIV. Feb 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Unreasonable investigative actions are being conducted as part of the investigation into the attempt on the life of first assistant to the President of Ukraine Serhiy Shefir, people who have nothing to do with this are being checked for involvement in the crime, attorneys-at-law said.

At a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday, Head of the Anna Lytvyn and Partners law firm Anna Lytvyn said that at the end of November 2021, a letter from an employee of the Criminal Investigation Department to one of the heads of the Main Investigation Department of the National Police appeared pretrial investigation analyze previously committed similar crimes.

"On October 10, 2018, there was a shootout in Kherson, Taran Vadym Petrovych is currently being accused. And they [the investigation] decided to work out this version [of the possible involvement of this person in the assassination attempt on Shefir]," the attorney said.

According to her, from the beginning of December 2021, the pretrial investigation authority received permission to conduct approximately 80 searches of different families with the seizure of property. "From the materials that are available to us, we can say that they have already decided on the culprit of this assassination," Lytvyn said.

According to her, searches of these people were not preceded by investigative actions. Lytvyn said in the procedural documents, those who were called for interrogation are called "involved" and "informed about the circumstances."

Lytvyn also said: "Wherever we turn, there is information that this is an instruction from the President's Office, and they are actually in charge of the investigation. We turned to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky with this issue, as well as to Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky... We also sent relevant letters to the victims."

"If there is a willingness to find the criminals, then the investigation should do just that, and not by selection, look for other crimes throughout Ukraine and try on each one, whether he could have committed an attempt," the attorney said.

In turn, Managing Partner at Kravchenko, Honchar and Partners Tetiana Kravchenko said that she was also present during the investigation. "One issue remains open: what is the quality of these searches and who exactly they were conducted. They were carried out by ordinary citizens who, according to the investigation, had something to do with Vadym Taran, who is suspected of committing an attack on a person in 2018," the attorney said.

Attorney at Kravchenko, Honchar and Partners Vadym Pohorilov said the investigation "determined a single version – the involvement of Taran and persons from his entourage in the attempt on Shefir."

"If persons appear in procedural documents as being involved in a crime, then announce suspicion, choose a measure of restraint, conduct an investigation and send the case to court," he said.

According to the attorney, each of those whom the investigation considers involved, testified and indicated that at the time of the attempt on Shefir, he was far from the scene of the crime.