On September 26, the Dnipro Court of Appeals continued its consideration of the appeal filed by the attorney for suspect Mykhailo Leonidovych Becker against the decision of the Dzerzhinsky District Court of Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, dated September 15, 2019, regarding the imposition of a preventive measure on M.L. in the form of pretrial detention for a period of 60 days, from September 14 through November 12, 2019, inclusive. Mykhailo Becker is suspected of committing crimes under Part 3 of Article 27, Part 5 of Article 191, Part 3 of Article 28, and Part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

During the court hearing, the panel of judges of the Court of Appeals for Criminal Cases heard the motions and arguments of the defense—partner and attorney at Barristers Law Firm Kostyantyn Hloba, and attorney Inna Tetska of the law firm “Barristers,” Inna Tetska, the prosecution, and the defendant himself—and issued a ruling partially granting the appeal filed by defense attorney Yegor Oleksiyovych Latayko on behalf of Mykhailo Becker.

The ruling of the investigating judge of the Dzerzhinsky District Court of Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, dated September 15, 2019, regarding the application of a pretrial detention measure against Mykhailo Leonidovych Becker was overturned.

A new ruling was issued, imposing a preventive measure in the form of pretrial detention on the suspect until November 11, 2019, and setting the bail amount at 1,000 times the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons.

According to the ruling, Becker is to be released from the Kryvyi Rih pretrial detention center and may return home to Kyiv. The bail amount is 2 million 7 thousand hryvnias.

“We argued that the allegations were completely unfounded and that the case materials were fabricated. We will challenge the charges brought against Mr. Becker. When the charges were served, fundamental principles governing the service of charges were violated,” said Konstantin Globa, a partner and attorney at Barristers Law Firm.

The full text of the concrete quality expert report is still missing from the Becker case file. At the same time, there are other inspection documents that refute the conclusion of the expert report prepared by the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office. The originals of the trial court’s decision are also missing. The defense attorneys have also filed a complaint with Ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova regarding violations of Mykhailo Becker’s rights.

The bridge builder himself stated on record that, while in the Kryvyi Rih pretrial detention center, they literally beat a confession out of him: