CHESNO Movement says they won the appeal against deputy Dubinsky

The Kyiv Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by non-factional deputy Oleksandr Dubinsky against the CHESNO Movement. The deputy was suing for defamation, the CHESNO Movement reports.

In his lawsuit, Dubinsky demanded that the CHESNO Movement remove him from its Register of Traitors.

Deputy Oleksandr Dubinsky during the trial. Photo by Ukrinform

The judgement by the Kyiv Court of Appeals has not yet entered into force, as it can be appealed in the Supreme Court.

Oleksandr Dubinsky's case

On November 13, 2023, the State Bureau of Investigation notified Oleksandr Dubinsky of suspicion for high treason (Part 1 of Article 111) and creating and running a criminal community or organization, as well as participating in it (Part 1 of Article 255). He is charged with criminal activities supervised by officials of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and subversive media activities against Ukraine.

According to the investigation, Dubinsky had the call sign Buratino and was a member of the organization formed by the RFAF General Staff HQ (GRU), namely the Deputy Chief of the GRU Vladimir Alekseyev. His deputy Oleksiy Savin was handling the operations of the group.

The organization was supposed to destabilize the socio-political situation in Ukraine and discredit the country on the international stage. The organization received over $10 million in funding.

In November 2023, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv took Dubinsky into custody for two months and has been continuing this measure of restraint.

Later, Dubinsky claimed that he was beaten in the PTDC in Kyiv and his ribs were broken.

Dubinsky's lawyer asked to change the measure of restraint from detention to house arrest in view of the alleged attack on Dubinsky in the pretrial detention center, which resulted in physical injuries and deterioration of his health.

Oleksandr Dubinsky, for his part, said that the beating was due to his criticism of the Ukrainian authorities.

In June 2024, the deputy director of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) Oleksandr Udovichenko reported that the deputy Oleksandr Dubinsky's treason case was approaching the final stage of investigation.

On January 11, 2021, the US Treasury Department introduced sanctions against Oleksandr Dubinsky and several other Ukrainian citizens and media outlets for interfering in the US elections. The U.S. Treasury explained that these individuals and companies were part of a Russian network of external influence affiliated with deputy Andriy Derkach. Washington considers the latter to be a Russian agent. Sanctions against Derkach were introduced back in 2020.