On March 4, 2020, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv ruled to dismiss the complaint filed by Vladislav Manger’s defense team against the prosecutor’s order to suspend the pretrial investigation.

According to Vladislav Manger’s attorneys—Konstantin Globa, Andriy Levkovets, and Oleksandr Shadrin, partners at Barristers Law Firm— on July 16, 2019, the prosecutor of the Division for Procedural Oversight of Pretrial Investigations and Support of the State Prosecution within the Directorate for Oversight of Law Enforcement by the Security Service of Ukraine and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, part of the Department for Oversight of Law Enforcement in Criminal Proceedings and Coordination of Law Enforcement Activities of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, issued a ruling ordering a pretrial investigation in criminal proceeding No. 22019000000000215 dated July 12, 2019, on the suspicion that V.M. Manger committed a criminal offense under Part 3 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 28, and Part 2 of Article 121 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, to be suspended pursuant to paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Article 280 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine due to the need to carry out procedural actions within the framework of international cooperation.

Our partner, attorney K.V. Globa of Barristers Law Firm, has learned that the pretrial investigation in criminal proceeding No. 22019000000000215 is not being conducted due to its suspension, and therefore, on January 20, 2020, he filed a motion with the Office of the Prosecutor General requesting access to the materials of the criminal proceeding, in which he asked to be provided with the order suspending the pretrial investigation in criminal proceeding No. 22019000000000215 dated July 12, 2019, for his review, or to ensure that he could exercise his right to review the materials by sending the order to suspend the pretrial investigation to his mailing address.

The defense attorneys note in the complaint that there are no grounds for issuing the ruling under paragraph 3 of part 1 of Article 280 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine specifically with regard to their client, V.M. Manger, since, by a ruling of the prosecutor of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine dated July 12, 2019, in criminal proceeding No. 22019000000000102 dated April 19, 2019, materials from the pretrial investigation were transferred to criminal proceeding No. 22019000000000215 dated July 12,July 2019 on suspicion against V. M. Manger and O. O. Levin, and the prosecutor did not provide any specific information regarding the request for international legal assistance specifically concerning Manger, and the grounds for suspending the pretrial investigation—paragraph 2 of Part 1 of Article 280 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine—apply only to O. O. Levin.

The defense argues that this ruling violates the rights of the suspect, V. M. Manger, in particular the right to a defense, the right to liberty, and the right to have criminal proceedings conducted within a reasonable time.

The defense argues that by issuing the contested ruling, the prosecution is attempting to conceal its inability to conduct the pretrial investigation within a reasonable time, or is pursuing some other unlawful objective.

The suspect is a public figure who holds the position of chairman of the Kherson Regional Council. This position is an elected office, as is that of a regional council deputy.

On these grounds, the defense believes that the continuation of the criminal prosecution of V.M. Manger is politically motivated, aimed at destroying his professional reputation and his approval ratings among voters—that is, it serves an unlawful purpose.

During the court hearing on March 4, 2020, the prosecutor’s office submitted a number of documents which, according to the defense, fully confirmed their position that the pretrial investigation against V.M. Manger has in fact continued since the ruling was issued.  On January 20, 2020, the official website of the Office of the Prosecutor Generala news report stating that on January 20, 2020, prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General, in cooperation with investigators from the Security Service of Ukraine, were conducting a special operation in the city of Kherson and other settlements in the region to dismantle a criminal organization which had committed acts of violence against individuals and arson of private property in the region. In addition, the prosecutor’s office, together with operatives from the SBU’s operational units, has launched a series of searches to find additional evidence in the criminal investigation into the attack on civic activist Kateryna Handziuk, – according to a statement from the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The attorneys drew the court’s attention to the fact that all materials provided by the prosecutor’s office to confirm the suspension of the pretrial investigation were prepared and submitted exclusively within the framework of criminal proceeding No. 22019000000000102 dated April 19, 2019, from which a separate criminal proceeding concerning Manger and Levin was subsequently spun off and, accordingly, cannot be considered as valid evidence of the suspension of the investigation in Case No. 22019000000000215 dated July 12, 2019.

After hearing the arguments of both parties, the court decided to dismiss the complaint.

According to Manger V.M.’s defense counsel, O.S. Shadrin, a partner and attorney at Barristers Law Firm, an application regarding this matter will be filed with the European Court of Human Rights in the near future, as there are clear violations of the provisions of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; however, despite this, Judge M.S. Antonyuk of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv decided to uphold the position of the prosecution.