Chervinskyi’s defense filed complaint to Constitutional Court: Courts abuse CPC provision and automatically extend term of detention
The Constitutional Court has opened proceedings on the complaint of the defense of Colonel Roman Chervinskyi regarding the non-compliance of Part 5, Article 615 of the CPC of Ukraine with the Constitution.
This was reported by lawyer Andrii Yosypov on Facebook, Censor.NET reports.
"In April of this year, the Kirovohrad court, on the basis of this provision, detained Chervinskyi in a pre-trial detention center without a court hearing, defense counsel, and the right to express a position on the measure of restraint," the lawyer explained.
Part 5, Article 615 of the CPC of Ukraine states: "If it is impossible to hold a preparatory court hearing, the preventive measure in the form of detention chosen by the investigating judge or the head of the prosecutor's office during the pre-trial investigation is considered to be extended until the relevant issue is resolved in the preparatory court hearing, but not more than for two months."
Courts consider these circumstances as related to the impossibility of holding a hearing under martial law due to the failure to bring the accused to court, failure to provide them with video communication with the court, or failure of the prosecutor or defense counsel to appear at the preparatory hearing, he explained.
"This judicial practice of judges abusing the provision of Part 5 of Article 615 of the CPC of Ukraine is systematic. It is clear that in Kyiv or Kropyvnytskyi in 2024 there were no circumstances of impossibility of holding hearings related to the conduct of hostilities. The absence of a defense lawyer results in the involvement of a lawyer from a free legal aid center, the failure to bring the accused from the pre-trial detention center results in the postponement of the hearing, but not in the automatic extension of the term of detention," Yosypov emphasized.
The lawyer noted that the complaint is aimed not only at protecting the rights of Chervinskyi but also of all those who were forced to be held or are being held "without substantiated court decisions in pre-trial detention centers."
If the complaint is upheld, everyone will have the right to compensation for damage caused by acts and actions recognized as unconstitutional (Article 152 of the Constitution of Ukraine), he summarized.
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 Chervinskyi.
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.
On 17 July 2024, Chervinskyi was released on bail, extending his detention until 4 August. On 18 July 2024, the Court placed Chervinskyi under round-the-clock house arrest as part of a new criminal proceeding.
