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Conclusions of explosive examination in Sheremet case made public and caused doubts

22.09.2021, 14:30
Photo credit: Stanislav Kulyk's Facebook
Photo credit: Stanislav Kulyk's Facebook

On September 21, during an extramural court hearing in the case of the murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet, the prosecutor made public the conclusions of the explosive examination, as Ukrinform reported.

Three defendants in the case - Andriy Antonenko, Yuliya Kuzmenko, Yana Duhar - and their defense attorneys, prosecutor Mykhailo Tishyn and one of the victims' representatives, as well as judges and jurors, went to the location of the carosseries which are material evidence.

After the parties returned to the courtroom, the prosecutor released the findings of the explosive examination.

“In the course of this examination, the expert found that the mass of the explosive in TNT equivalent used in the explosive device in the car blast was of 478.4 grams. This established that the explosive device was half filled with explosives, ” the prosecutor said.

Tishyn added that the expert also took into account the thickness of the car's plastic protection, the thickness of the metal, the height of the magnets, the distance between the explosive charge and the surface, as well as other data "necessary to draw an objective conclusion."

For his part, Antonenko's lawyer Stanislav Kulyk said he had doubts about the objectivity of this study.

Among other things, he said that the explosive that blew up Sheremet had not been identified, and it is still unknown what kind of explosive was used to blow up the journalist.

At the same time, the lawyer noted that he "had the impression that the prosecutor wanted to prove that in some way the MES-50 mine was connected to the commission of this terrible crime."

Kulik expressed the opinion that in this case the study was "obviously biased", and noted that the expert did not conduct sufficient research to at least exclude other explosive devices.

“We said that similar explosive devices were used in at least two other mines we know of: OZM-72 and MON-90 mine. None of these explosive devices were also taken into account in this study. So, in this case, we investigated the evidence that proves the obvious: that a famous journalist was blown up by an unknown improvised explosive device. As to all other points, we, unfortunately, did not receive any information, ”Antonenko's lawyer emphasized.

For her part, Kuzmenko noted that, in her opinion, the investigative experiment on the car was not conducted properly. And one of the representatives of the aggrieved parties, present at this meeting, expressed his belief that the experiment was not accurate and doubted that it was a MES-50 mine.

The court adjourned the hearing in the case until September 27.

As IMI reported,  Pavel Sheremet died in Kyiv on July 20, 2016 in a car blast.

On December 12, 2019, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said that the National Police had detained and pressed suspicion to those involved in the murder of Pavel Sheremet.

On December 12, Deputy Head of the National Police - Chief of Criminal Police Yevgeny Koval reported that the explosive under the car of journalist Pavel Sheremet was put by the ATO musician and volunteer Andriy Antonenko and doctor and volunteer Yulia Kuzmenko.

The same day, Yevhen Koval said that the investigation considered the main version of the murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet was to destabilize the social and political situation in Ukraine.

On 12 December, the editorial staff of “Ukrayinska Pravda” (UP) claimed to be stupefied by the investigative lead into the murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet, as “UP” web-based edition reported on its website.

On July 23, 2019, Head of the National Police Serhiy Knyazev told that the murder of Pavel Sheremet still remained unsolved.

On April 30, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv changed the measure of restraint for the accused Andriy Antonenko, from custody to 24-hour house arrest.

On July 16, the newly appointed Interior Minister Denis Monastyrskyi promised to draw conclusions about the quality of law enforcement in the case of Pavel Sheremet following a court ruling.

On August 3, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court in Kyiv examined the expert study of Yuliya Kuzmenko’s gait. The experts concluded the person walking near the Sheremet’s car could be at 15% Yulia Kuzmenko,

On August 4, the measure of restraint for Yulia Kuzmenko has been mitigated by decision of the Shevchenkivsky District Court in Kyiv. Instead of house arrest around the clock she was placed under night house arrest and her electronic tracking ankle device was off.

On 6 of August, Yana Dugar said she had noticed to be under surveillance

Actually, the suspects are Sergeant of the Special Operations Forces Andriy Antonenko (Riffmaster), military medic Yana Duhar and volunteer Yulia Kuzmenko. They refuse to admit their guilt. Yulia Kuzmenko is now under night house arrest, she returned to her work in Kyiv Okhmadet hospital, Antonenko is under round-the-clock detention, Yana Duhar is on bail of UAH 168,160 (about $6 315).

On September 11, the judge of the Pecherski district court in Kyiv, Vitaliy Pysanets, was found dead on September 11 in the village of Pohreby near Kyiv. He was trying the the case of the murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet and ordered several arrests of suspects in the crime.

On 21 of September, it was reported that Former First Deputy Chief of the Police Yevhen Koval, who headed the investigative task force in the case of the murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet, has been discharged.  He filed declaration prior to dismissal. This was reported by Slidstvo.Info. In a comment to the edition, Yevhen Koval found his dismissal to be due to some political reasons.  “The reason for my dismissal would be political. Because there are no questions to my work. "

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