Court Again Postpones Consideration of Arrest in Serhii Tarasov Case: Businessman Alleges Pressure, Raider Seizure, and Lack of Evidence

Another hearing was held at the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv in the case of agribusinessman and former Honorary Consul of Lithuania in Ukraine, Serhii Tarasov. The court was considering an investigator's motion to apply a preventive measure in the form of pretrial detention. As before, however, consideration of the motion was once again postponed.

Despite the adjournment, the suspect himself delivered an extensive statement in court. Tarasov publicly alleged what he described as systemic procedural violations, pressure on judges, and the "contracted" nature of the criminal proceedings, which, according to him, have been ongoing for nearly three years.

"Three cases and the harshest preventive measure"

In his remarks, Tarasov emphasized that he is currently the subject of three criminal proceedings related to 103 land plots with a total area of approximately 206 hectares. According to him, these episodes were separated from the main case, which has already been under investigation for a third year.

"At present, I am a suspect in three criminal proceedings, and a motion has been filed to apply the harshest preventive measure against me—pretrial detention," he stated in court.

The suspect claims that all three cases are, in his assessment, raider-style and commissioned in nature, and that their progress is allegedly coordinated, among others, by the leadership of the National Police.

Alleged "two objectives" and mention of a possible scheme organizer

Tarasov outlined two objectives that, according to him, the criminal cases are intended to achieve:

1.  the raider takeover of his property—land plots and the I&U Group agroholding;
2. enabling other individuals to avoid liability, in particular Oleksandr Veselov, a business partner of the family of the Head of the National Police of Ukraine, Ivan Vyhivskyi.

"Veselov is the actual organizer of the fraudulent scheme to seize land plots and my money—not only mine, but also that of businesspeople from the Poltava, Kirovohrad, and Rivne regions," Tarasov said.

Allegations of pressure on Pechersk Court judges

Separately, the suspect informed the court of alleged pressure on judges of the Pechersk District Court. In particular, he mentioned the court's chair, Kozlov.

"The Head of the Pechersk Court, Kozlov, regularly holds conversations with judges in my cases regarding decisions in favor of the prosecution and the acceleration of consideration of their motions. This has been documented in photos and videos by my lawyers," Tarasov claimed.

"Materials withheld for over a year; some documents have disappeared"

Tarasov also stressed that, according to him, the prosecution has been withholding case materials for review for more than a year. Certain documents, he claims—specifically those related to Veselov—have "disappeared from the case file."

In addition, Tarasov pointed to a procedural issue: according to him, Judge Yermichova accepted for consideration two prosecutorial motions simultaneously to limit the defense's time for familiarization with the materials—one for 40 days and another for 10 days. He argues that the Criminal Procedure Code does not provide for the simultaneous consideration of two identical motions.

"This indicates the commissioned nature of the prosecution's actions, aimed at unlawfully sending the indictment to court without granting us access to the materials," he stated.

Tarasov also recalled that the Pechersk Court had previously granted a motion to recuse Judge Yermichova in this proceeding.

"Not a single piece of evidence in 85 volumes"

The suspect separately asserted that the suspicion against him is unfounded and that there is no evidence of his involvement in the alleged crimes.

"In 85 volumes of the criminal case, there is not a single piece of evidence of my guilt. Let the prosecutor name at least one page that contains proof," Tarasov said.

He also claimed that the majority of handwriting examinations confirm the authenticity of signatures, and that some witnesses later changed their testimony and confirmed that the documents had indeed been signed.

Separately, Tarasov referred to testimony by suspect Veselov, who, according to Tarasov, stated in court that Tarasov "has no connection whatsoever to the alleged crimes."

Appeal to the court: "Look at what this is based on, beyond the prosecutor's words"

In closing, Tarasov urged the court to critically assess the prosecution's arguments and the substance of the suspicion.

"I ask the court to very carefully examine what, apart from the prosecutor's words, the suspicion is based on. The investigation has been ongoing for almost three years, yet no evidence of my guilt has been found," he said.

When the court will resume consideration of the motion to apply a preventive measure has not yet been announced.

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