KHARKIV – Kharkiv’s Kyivsky District Court found Yuriy Apukhtin, the founder and coordinator of the Southeast organization, guilty of organizing mass disturbances followed by massacres and public calls for a violent overthrow of the Ukrainian constitutional system and a coup.
“[The court ruled] to sentence Apukhtin Yuriy Mykhailovych to imprisonment for six years,” Judge Yana Hubska said, reading a ruling on May 23.
In accordance with the so-called ‘Savchenko law’ the court included the time Apukhtin had spent in a remand prison (from April 30 to May 7, 2014, and from Dec. 19, 2014, to date) into the sentence under the formula ‘a day in a remand prison counts as two days in a jail.’
The court also extended Apukhtin’s arrest until the sentence enters into force, but no longer than for 60 days, until July 22.
The sentence is yet to enter into force; an appeal can be filed against it.
“I didn’t expect any other decision. I considered myself innocent and still do so,” Apukhtin said after the judgment was rendered.
Apukhtin’s lawyer Dmytro Tyhonenkov said he considers the judgment unfounded and the defense team will appeal against it.
State prosecutor Maksym Mozhovoi said that a decision whether to file an appeal will be made after the consideration of the text of the ruling.
“I believe the court has rendered justified and substantiated. We will make a decision on the appeal after thorough consideration of the text of the ruling,” he said.
As reported, Apukhtin was charged with organizing mass disturbances followed by massacres and public calls for a violent overthrow of the Ukrainian constitutional system and a coup.
It was established in a preliminary inquiry that Apukhtin had organized mass riots near the building of Kharkiv Regional State Administration in April 2014. He publically called for an overthrow of the constitutional system, non-recognition of the current state authorities, setting up the “Kharkiv People’s Republic (KPR)” and the so-called “KPR Constitution”.
