The decision of the High Anti-Corruption Court to selectdetention ofVolodymyr Galanternik as a preventive measure is illegal and unreasonable, as was reported by Olga Prosyanyuk, Managing Partner of AVER LEX, Attorney at Law Firm.
"Any preventive measure, not only the detention that was chosen today by the High Anti-Corruption Court, is illegal and unreasonable for Volodymyr Galanternik. There was not a single ground for this," the lawyer said.
According to her, the court had no grounds for choosing a preventive measure, since Volodymyr Galanternik is neither a suspect nor on the international “wanted” list.
"Let me remind you that our Client was not hiding, or evading the investigation. As early as October 5, 2021, law enforcement agencies were officially notified of Galanternik's place of residence in the UK and his stay on consular registration in Israel. This is confirmed by the lease agreement, the response of the competent authorities, and correspondence between the SAPO prosecutor and the Client. However, despite the fact that Volodymyr Galanternik has not lived in Ukraine since 2017, the prosecution persistently does not recognize this information and continues sending notifications on the addresses that have nothing to do with the Client. Accordingly, the suspicion notice was not properly handed over to Volodymyr Galanternik and he, according to the legislation of Ukraine, is not a suspect," said Olga Prosyanyuk.
According to her, the law prohibits a special pre-trial investigation from choosing a preventive measure for a person, who was not given a suspicion notice or was not listed in the databases of Interpol.
"So, the suspicion notice has not been handed over, there is no Volodymyr Galanternik in the databases of the Interpol, and the NABU has no authority to put a person on the international “wanted” list since such an announcement is in the competence of the Interpol exclusively, Volodymyr Galanternik was denied in the possibility of a videoconference meeting allowing international legal assistance. That is, today the High Anti-Corruption Court had no reason to detain Volodymyr Galanternik as well as to recognize him as a suspect. He's not one!" said Olga Prosyanyuk.
The lawyer also added that in favor of the defense arguments is evidenced by the scientific opinion of the Professor of the Department of Criminal Law Policy and Criminal Law of the Institute of Law of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Candidate of Juridical Sciences, Professor, member of the Scientific Advisory Council under the Supreme Court, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine Petro Andrushko.