Court did not extend Chervinskyi’s detention, but they may try to arrest him without trial - lawyer Lysenko
The preparatory court hearing in the case of SSO Colonel Roman Chervinskyi, which was postponed three times by the panel of the Kirovohrad District Court of Kirovohrad region because the victims were not properly notified, did not take place today. Although, despite the inadequate notification of the victims, the court wanted to consider the prosecution’s motion to extend the term of detention of the former intelligence officer, the hearing was postponed throughout the day due to numerous air raids, and then the judges ran out of time. Therefore, tomorrow Roman Chervinskyi is to be released from custody.
Roman Chervinskyi's lawyer Serhii Lysenko said this in a comment to Censor.NET, adding that according to the latest ruling of the investigating judge of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv, his detention period expires at midnight tonight.
At the same time, he noted that the prosecution or the court may apply Article 615 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which refers to the special regime of criminal proceedings under martial law.
"The working day in court was over. And when the judges were leaving the courtroom, as the air alert sounded again and it was impossible to hold a meeting on security issues, the prosecutor managed to shout that it was necessary to detain Chervinskyi without a court order in accordance with Article 615 of the CPC due to the impossibility of holding a preparatory court hearing, - the lawyer said. - The judges got up and left, they did not say anything about this. Therefore, the document on the basis of which he may not be free tomorrow may be a court ruling issued without considering this issue in court, or a resolution issued by the prosecutor, if they fail to persuade the judges. Because Article 615 is written in such a way that it does not clearly state who has the authority to make such decisions."
Roman Chervinskyi's case
The media reported that the Ukrainian military had been recruiting a Russian pilot for several months to hijack the plane. According to media reports, Roman Chervinskyi was among them. Subsequently, as the SSU noted, the "operation" was carried out over the objections of the SSU and without the consent of the relevant state authorities. As a result, the enemy received information about the deployment of personnel of the Ukrainian Air Force and Ukrainian aircraft at the Kanatove airfield. This allowed the Russian Armed Forces to shell the airfield.
Later, Chervinskyi gave an exclusive interview for Censor.NET in which he spoke about the operation at Kanatove airfield.
In April 2023, the SSU served Chervinskyi with a notice of suspicion in the case of the shelling of the Kanatove airfield in Kirovohrad region by the occupiers. He was detained in the Ternopil region.
Major General Viktor Hanushchak, who was in charge of the military unit to which Colonel Chervinskyi was assigned as deputy commander, told Censor.NET that the operation at Kanatove airfield had been agreed with the top leadership of the Armed Forces. However, the court refused to hear Hanushchak and did not accept evidence in favour of Chervinsky.
Roman Chervinskyi was one of the intelligence officers who organised an operation in 2020 to detain Russian mercenaries from the Wagner PMC, luring them to Belarus. There, the mercenaries were supposed to board a plane that would later be crash-landed in Ukraine by the Ukrainian special services. However, the operation failed. On 24 June 2021, President Zelensky confirmed the preparation of a special operation against the Wagnerites. Zelenskyy also said that the special operation against the Wagnerites was the idea of other countries and that Ukraine was involved in this issue as much as possible.
In December 2021, DIU intelligence officers Chervinskyi and Semeniuk spoke about the betrayal of the operation. According to Chervinskyi, several people from the President's Office could have leaked information about the operation to detain the Wagnerites. He also said that the Presidential Office threatened the ex-intelligence officers with criminal proceedings.
On 28 December 2023, Colonel Roman Chervinskyi was served a notice of suspicion of attempting to seize USD 100,000 by impersonating an official of the State Fiscal Service.
