Arbitrariness in the case of Gongadze-Podolsky may result in the destruction of the institution of defense – an attorney

Attorney Tetyana Kostina, who is the representative of the victim Oleksiy Podolsky in the Podolsky-Gongadze case, appealed to the Ukrainian National Bar Association (hereinafter – the UNBA) about numerous violations of the victim's rights and the rights of an attorney during the consideration of the case in the Criminal Court of Cassation.

"I appealed to the UNBA because if such arbitrariness and outrage were left unanswered in such a high-profile case, it threatens the very existence of the bar as an institution," said Tatiana Kostina, who is currently the only representative of the victim.

At the same time, an attorney cannot exercise her rights, as she was removed from the courtroom by a falsified court decision. In the future, this became the basis for the attorney's inadmissibility to the court premises and refusal to consider her petitions and applications, referring to the fact that by this decision Kostin was suspended from representation for the entire period of the cassation hearing.

"At first, I was deprived of access and admission to state secrets, and then removed from the courtroom for the entire duration of the cassation hearing. This was done illegally, in violation of the terms of procedure, form or substance. Even court journals were falsified. On March 18, I came with an application for familiarization, but my application was returned to me on the grounds that I was allegedly excluded from participation in the case and from representation. This is not even provided for in the 1960 Criminal Procedure Code, in accordance with which this case is considered. And this is the acts of the reformed Supreme Court,” - Tetyana Kostina stressed.

At the same time, the victim Podolsky was removed from the courtroom, and thus he has no ability to participate in the consideration of his own cassation appeal.

According to the attorney’s words, the prosecution of the victim is related to the falsifications revealed by his representatives during the trial in the first and appellate instances, as well as in the highest judicial institution. These include letters related to the monitoring activities of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in this case (the commitment to implement the PACE resolution was made by the decision of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine).

"Since 2018, we have established that even the requests of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe addressed to the Ministry of Justice were attached not to the case file, but to the so-called internal proceeding, where there should be only copies of the materials. But in this case these are the originals involved in the internal proceedings, so that even the participants of the case do not know,” the defense attorney stated.

She called for the recurse to the international institutions regarding violations in this case and asks to draw public attention to this case. The National Police is also investigating obstruction of the legal activity of Kostin on the provision of legal assistance to the victim Podolsky, committed by officials of the Supreme Court.

"Public disclosure and indifference of the bar can majorly help in this situation," - the attorney is convinced. Appeals of other representatives in this case - Victor Shishkin and Alexander Dubinsky, including to higher authorities,- remain without consideration.

"No rights of the representative are exercised by the panel of judges," said Oleksandr Dubinsky, who is also a representative in this case, citing examples of refusals to withdraw judges, restrictions on the terms for access to case materials on 168 volumes, participation in the process of previously excluded by court decision representative of Myroslava Gongadze, and others.

"We will certainly appeal to all international bodies and this is a matter of principle under the control of the Council of Europe. We want the court to perform its functions, and this case is a litmus test that demonstrates how arbitrary judges treat lawyers, victims, how rights are protected and fair sentences are handed down in Ukraine,” - Oleksandr Dubinsky said.

It will be recalled that on May 21, the Head of the UNBA and Bar Council of Ukraine Lydia Izovitova convened a meeting of the UNBA committees concerning the protection of rights of victims and attorneys in high-profile criminal cases.