Court extended home arrest for suspected of high treason journalist Vasyl Muravytsky once more

Photo credit: Zhytomir.info The judge considering the case of high treason ruled to extend home arrest to the journalist Vasyl Muravytsky, as Ukrinform reported. Such a decision was taken in the Korolivsky district court in Zhytomyr. “The court ruled to extend measure of restriction in form of 24 hours a day home arrest with a prohibition to leave the residence. The term of home arrest is 60 days, thus until October 12, 2019”, the ruling reads. The public prosecutor Vadym Levchenko filed a motion asking to take Muravystsky in custody, as the suspect could flee or go on writing anti-Ukrainian materials. At the hearing, the court continued to consider the evidence provided by the prosecutor testifying about Muravitsky's unlawful activity. In particular, Levchenko read out the journalist’s correspondence with other persons, where the topics of publications were discussed, various Ukrainian politicians, eventual press conferences and the amount of fees were mentioned. In addition, the prosecutor provided screenshots of Muravitsky's correspondence on Facebook, Telegram, Skype, as well as e-mail. The texts of publications written and edited by the suspect mention the pseudonyms Balcerovich and Ablyazimov, under which he could work in Russian media. Vasyl Muravytsky is charged with high treason, he had been arrested in August 2017. Since 2014 he published several anti-Ukrainian materials and commented developments in Ukraine for pro-Russian mass media. The blogger is charged with crimes stipulated by the article 111, paragraph 1 (“High treason”), article 110, paragraph 2 (Attempt against territorial integrity of Ukraine”), article 161, paragraph 2 (Violation of equity of citizens depending on their racial, ethnical identity) and article 258-3, paragraph 1 (“Involvement in terrorist organization activity”) of the Criminal code of Ukraine. On June 28, 2018, the judges placed Muravytsky under home arrest. As IMI informed earlier, January 10, 2019, the Korolyovsky district court in Zhytomyr extended the measure of restriction till May 3rd.