Court obliged Pryamy TV channel to give SBI access to things and documents
Pryamy TV Channel is to provide the investigators of the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) with access to things and documents (with the possibility of its seizure) until 18 of March, as Pryamy TV channel reported with reference to the order issued by the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv they received on 3 of March.
Complying with the court order of February 18th, the broadcaster has to provide the SBI with the statute, certificates and patents of intellectual property, the register of movable and immovable assets, as well as the financial reporting.
In case of failure to comply with the decision on temporary access to things and documents, the investigating judge has authority to order a search warrant, as the court decision read.
The Pryamy TV channel said they considered the court decision unlawful, baseless and such that "was issued by illegitimate composition of court", because the Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv is the proper court to consider this request. SBI is located outside the territorial jurisdiction of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv, the TV channel noted.
In addition, Pryamy TV said, the considering of the SBI motion took place in the absence of Pryamy TV officials, "which is a gross violation of criminal procedural law." And all required documents are held in the state registers, which are available to SBI as well.
"That is why the TV channel considers such actions of the SBI and the Pechersk Court as a mode to make pressure and an attempt to block the activity of an independent media, and thus it will seize the court to contest this decision," - the channel noted.
At the same time, the TV channel stresses that even though it considers such actions illegal, it intends to give investigators temporary access to things and documents with the possibility of their seizure.
As reported by IMI, on November 7, 2019, the “Pryamy” TV Channel claimed that the residence place of its owner Volodymyr Makeyenko was being searched.
The State Bureau of Investigation replied that Makiyenko's searches were being conducted within the framework of criminal proceedings concerning the sale and purchase of the channel.
SBI is probing into alleged abuse by former President Petro Poroshenko during the sale and purchase of the TV channel. The criminal proceedings has been instituted after the complaint of the former deputy head of the Presidential Administration of the times of Viktor Yanukovych Andriy Portnov.
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