Court closes case of attack on Skhemy journalists at Ukreximbank
The Kyiv Court of Appeal closed the case over the attack on the Skhemy filming crew at the state-owned Ukreximbank in the fall of 2021 due to the statute of limitations for prosecuting the former Ukreximbank CEO Yevhen Metzher, former chief of banking security Ihor Telbizov, and former chief of internal security Oleh Osipov having expired.
The panel of judges of the Kyiv Court of Appeal issued the ruling on March 17, reports Radio Liberty.
The court granted the defendants’ motions and released them from liability.
“On the basis of Article 49 of the Criminal Code, Y. V. Metzher is released from liability under Part 1 of Article 171 and Part 3 of Article 171; I. G. Telbizov and O. L. Osipov are both released from liability under Part 1 of Article 171, Part 2 of Article 171, and Part 1 of Article 126 due to the statute of limitations having expired,” Judge Marharyta Vasylieva announced in the ruling.
The journalists’ lawyers said they plan to appeal to the ECHR.
Previously
On October 4, 2021, employees of the state-owned Ukreximbank attacked the "Skhemy" filming crew as they were recording an interview with the bank's board chairman Yevhen Metzher right in his office in Kyiv. When asked about a loan to structures affiliated with the "DPR," Metzher ordered that the journalists' cameras be taken away, the recordings of the interview be destroyed, and prohibited further filming. Moreover, the journalists were unlawfully detained in the office, not allowed to leave. Ihor Telbizov used violence against the journalists.
There are four defendants in the case: Ukreximbank's former board chairman Yevhen Metzher, the bank's ex-chief of information policy Volodymyr Pikalov, ex-chief of banking security Ihor Telbizov, and chief of internal security Oleh Osipov. They pleaded not guilty.
It was reported in January 2023 that the information policy director at Ukreximbank, Volodymyr Pikalov, had been conscripted.
During the trial in the first instance court, Yevhen Metzher, Ihor Telbizov, and Oleh Osipov pleaded not guilty. Telbizov emphasized that he had been performing his duties and had not breached any laws. Metzher claimed that he had not given any instructions regarding the journalists and that he had been provoked. Osipov explained that he was elsewhere during the incident.
On September 14, 2022, the Holosiivsky District Court of Kyiv fined Yevhen Metzher (UAH 3400), Ihor Telbizov, and Oleh Osipov (UAH 1700 each), finding them guilty under Part 1 and Part 3 of Article 171 ("Illegal seizure of materials collected by a journalist and their technical equipment, obstruction of the journalist's work committed by an official abusing their official position") and Part 1 of Article 126 (“Beating and assault”) of the Criminal Code.
In January 2023, the Skhemy journalists' lawyers asked the Court of Appeal for a harsher penalty for Yevhen Metzher, namely to deprive him of the right to hold managerial positions in state bodies, local governments, state or communal enterprises for three years.
Defendants Ihor Telbizov and Oleh Osipov also contested their dismissal from the state-owned bank in the Court to Appeal. In December 2023, it was reported that the first instance courts reinstated Telbizov and Osipov and ordered Ukreximbank to pay off their salaries for the period they had missed.
Help us be even more cool!
