Solomiansky District Court of Kyiv has moved to February 27 a hearing of the case on a petition from anti-corruption bodies to remove Hennadiy Trukhanov as Odesa mayor for the time of the pre-trial investigation due to technical malfunctions in the video recording of the judicial process.
During the court session on February 22, Trukhanov and his defense team insisted that the petition should be rejected, justifying their position by the fact that removal from office could affect the vital activity of Odesa.
Representatives of the state prosecution, in turn, stressed the validity of the charges and the need to remove Trukhanov from office for two months, since his stay in office could lead to certain risks and hinder an objective investigation into the case.
Having heard the positions of the parties, the court proceeded to study the evidence, but it suspended the consideration, announcing a short break in the meeting due to technical problems related to a video recording of the process. Technical malfunctions were not eliminated promptly, and the hearing was moved to 2.00 p.m. on February 27.
As reported, on February 15, altercations flared up during a hearing on pretrial confinement for Trukhanov near Kyiv’s Solomiansky District Court. Some 36 participants in the flare-up near the court were detained and brought to the district’s police station, including the person who wounded a policeman with a gun.
Kyiv’s Shevchenkivsky District Court released three persons involved in the altercations against guarantees of MPs: Vyzvolennia (Liberation) movement activist Oleksandr Fedorchenko (nickname “Brest”), Mykola Chudovsky (nickname “Chudo”) and Georgian volunteer Luka Chkhetia (nickname “Luka”). According to media, one of them could have been the shooter.
