Page 38 - Report on the infringement of rights and guarantees of attorneys in Ukraine

VIOLATION
OF THE PRINCIPLES
OF JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS

CONCEALMENT OF EVIDENCE

- ignoring by officials of the requests of attorneys, provision of answers without the necessary
information or failure to provide them at all;

For example, the Bar Council of Odesa Region received:
2017 - 97 applications
January-March 2018 - 32 applications 67

- interference by representatives of the prosecutor’s office in the examination of evidence, even
directly at court hearings (prosecutors often insist on considering search records, expert opinions, or
suggest only examining the text of a bill of indictment).

Valentyn Rybin
attorney of Yevgenii Mefiodov, one of the participants in the case on the events
of 2 May 2014 in Odesa
On 6 November 2017, the prosecution in every way possible avoided watching a video,
which, according to the prosecutor, was the main evidence of the fault of defendant
Yevgenii Mefoidov. Although the attorney stated that the content of the video did not
correspond to the description set out in the official expert examination report provided to
the court by the prosecutor's office .
68

Kyrylo Lehkykh, Valentyn Rybin
attorneys of Oleksandr Shcheholiev, SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) General

On 13 November 2017, it became known at the court hearing that one of the main pieces
of evidence of the fault of defendant Oleksandr Shcheholiev (order signed by him) was
missing in the case file. The attorneys expressed reasonable doubts about the existence of
the document, since the prosecutor's office failed to present this evidence to the court in
the course of several years of court hearings, and only referred to it in the bill of
indictment .
69

Valentyn Rybin
attorney of the three-time Taekwondo champion of Ukraine Daria Mastikasheva,
accused of treason
There have been cases when video materials used previously, for example, videos with
the confession of Daria Mastikasheva, were no longer used in the case as soon as the
public became aware of the illegal methods used in obtaining such evidence .
70

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