Can't Let Her Go: The Kyiv Court of Appeals Has Confused Everyone in the "Savchenko Case"

Today, August 9, the Kyiv City Court of Appeals overturned the Shevchenkivskyi District Court’s ruling of July 13 extending Nadiya Savchenko’s pretrial detention until September 7, but issued a new, similar ruling.

Nevertheless, even such a paradoxical decision speaks volumes about the extent to which the Savchenko case complies with the law.

In particular, here is what one of N. Savchenko’s attorneys, Kostyantyn Hloba, posted on his Facebook page regarding this matter.

Specifically, the attorney from the “Barristers” Law Firm noted the following:

"Today, August 9, 2018, in the Savchenko case, the Kyiv City Court of Appeals heeded the arguments of the defense attorneys, attorneys Konstantin Globa and Andriy Levkovets, and overturned the ruling by Judge V.V. Bugil of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv to extend N. Savchenko’s pretrial detention. The full text of the ruling has not yet been received, but the arguments were more than convincing, as the prosecutors were unable to even answer the court’s questions. Among the arguments presented was the discovery of fabricated case materials by employees of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court, as new documents appeared in the case file that had not been submitted by anyone and had not been examined during the proceedings presided over by Judge Khardina.

Another argument cited was Judge Hardina’s unlawful removal of a judge from the hearing.

They also discussed Judge Bugil’s unlawful setting of a deadline for the defense to file motions—limited to just one and a half hours—and his allocation of only one hour for all attorneys to present their arguments on the merits of the motions.

Another argument concerned Judge Bugil’s non-procedural conduct, as he allowed arguments with the defense and attempted to sway the proceedings toward a position favorable to himself.

There were many arguments. The prosecution did not respond to any of them, choosing instead to conveniently ignore them.

Today, Judge Bugil’s ruling has been overturned and declared unlawful—and that is a fact!”

In fact, this decision by the Court of Appeals indicates that the Shevchenkivskyi District Court issued an unlawful ruling regarding Nadiya Savchenko’s continued detention in pretrial detention, yet she was still not allowed to be released.