Will the court continue to find excuses to defer the case of Lyagin, one of the DPR's founding fathers?
IZOLYATSIA foundation invites you to a court hearing in the case of Roman Lyagin, a key figure of the Donetsk separatist republic involved in the seizure of the foundation premises and its transformation into the secret prison.
The court hearing will be held on December 17th, 2019 at 1:30 pm in the Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv (31A Degtyarivska Street).
Immediately following the hearing, journalists will be able to speak with Volodymyr Yefimenko, a lawyer at Golovan & Partners Law Firm and advocate for the IZOLYATSIA foundation. During the press briefing the general public will have a chance to discuss the trial process and how completely and comprehensively the role of Roman Lyagin is being represented in this trial with respect to his broader involvement in the creation of the terrorist organization the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and specifically to his involvement in the seizure of the territory of IZOLYATSIA in Donetsk.
If journalists would like to speak with victims and former prisoners of the IZOLYATSIA prison, please notify us in advance.
In review:
Roman Lyagin was the former head of the Central Electoral Commission during the illegal referendum of May 11, 2014 regarding a self-determination of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and the ex-minister of Labor and Social Policy for the separatist republic. Under his direct guidance “fake” voting was arranged among the residents of Donetsk region resulting in the foundation of the terrorist organization “Donetsk People’s Republic”. In 2015, Ukraine imposed personal sanctions on Lyagin and 387 others.
Lyagin was revealed to be an initiator in the seizure of the territory of the International Charitable Foundation "IZOLYATSIA" in Donetsk and was involved in its transformation into the secret prison of "The State Security Ministry of the Donetsk People's Republic”. Lyagin is also an important witness to the involvement of Russian special forces in the occupation of Donbas, and is therefore able to contribute supporting evidence in the International Courts of the participation of the Russian Federation in military aggression against Ukraine. The first hearing on Lyagin's case was scheduled for September 3, 2019, but the case was postponed till November 1 because the accused did not read the case file.
The next hearing was further postponed till the 17th of December due to the fact that judge O.V. Melyashak, the chairman of the panel of judges who were to hear the case, was busy with another case. The other two judges hearing Lyagin's case have worked in the Donetsk region before, and the state prosecutor, Maxim Komarnitsky, is the son of Vitaliy Komarnitsky, the ex-chairman of the Luhansk regional state administration who has previously called for the unity of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
In the light of these facts, it is probable that Roman Lyagin will either be granted full amnesty or will receive a sentence that is perfunctory and incommensurate with the amount of damage caused by his actions. Contrary to the rules of the Criminal Procedure Code, the Shevchenkivskyi Court of the City of Kyiv still does not recognize IZOLYATSIA the injured party in Lyagin's case and, as such, is preventing the victims’ representatives from participating in the preparatory meeting and exercising their procedural rights.
IZOLYATSIA foundation calls to all concerned citizens to attend the court hearings and demand fair justice for the leader of the separatists. We hope that our joint efforts will make it impossible for the court to grant amnesty to an individual who brought suffering to the country as a whole, and in particular to the inhabitants of the occupied part of Donbas.
Media Contact:
Natalia Krasnenkova 067 465 54 26, [email protected]
In the context of the new Ukraine-Russia prisoner-of-war arrangements reached during the Normandy Format Summit in Paris, IZOLYATSIA addresses representatives of international organizations, in particular the International Committee of the Red Cross, the OSCE / ODIHR and the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission:
- to conduct a monitoring visit to the territory of the foundation in Donetsk in order to identify the persons illegally detained by the militants;
- to facilitate the listing of these persons for the subsequent exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and Russia.