Kherson City Court ruled on Aug. 6 that Mykola Novikov, a suspect in the acid attack on Kherson city council official Kateryna Gandziuk, to be kept in custody for two months in the city’s pre-trial detention center.
The next court hearings on the case will be held on Oct.1.
Police suspect that Novikov, a 40-year-old resident of Kherson on July 31 attacked Gandziuk by the entrance to her parents’ house in Kherson, a Ukrainian city about 540 kilometers south of Kyiv, pouring acid on her head and back, and fleeing the scene.
In court, Novikov denied all the charges and claimed he had an alibi – he said he was on a family vacation on the day of the attack.
Gandziuk, an outspoken critic of the police in Kherson Oblast, was hospitalized with severe burns to 30 percent of her body, including her head, back, and eye. Later she was transported by airplane from Kherson to Kyiv.
The police initially classified the attack in as “hooliganism” but later changed it to attempted murder.
Novikov was arrested on Aug. 3. During the court hearing on Aug. 6, Novikov’s sister Iryna Kodakova said that on the day of the attack Novikov was on a family vacation with her and other family members, which she said had lasted from July 27 until Aug. 1 in Kherson Oblast. That was presented as an alibi by Novikov’s defense lawyer to the judge.
But the judge said due to her family ties with the suspect, Kodakova’s testimony had to be verified.
Novikov has an earlier conviction for burglary. Prosecutors said his phone had been switched off from July 29 until his arrest.
