Judge: Viktor Poprevych
Prosecutors: Serhiy Kostenko, Head of the Odessa Prosecutor's Office, Hanna Kolomiychuk, Prosecutor of the Odessa Prosecutor's Office, P.G. Muravyov, Senior Group of Prosecutors, Prosecutor of the Odessa Regional Prosecutor's Office Department, O.V. Mosko, Prosecutor of the Odessa Regional Prosecutor's Office Department, I.V. Kuprina, Prosecutor of the Odessa Regional Prosecutor's Office Department, M.O. Mosur, Prosecutor of the Odessa Regional Prosecutor's Office Department, O.B. Zakharyev, Prosecutor of the Odessa Regional Prosecutor's Office Department, V.O. Bilyi, Prosecutor of the Odessa Regional Prosecutor's Office Department, A.L. Rusu, Prosecutor of the Odessa Regional Prosecutor's Office Department.
Investigators: Kuralov V.M., police major, senior investigator of the group of investigators, chief investigator of the Internal Affairs Department of the Main Police Department in the Odessa region, Kalichevsky V.K., police captain, chief investigator of the Main Police Department in the Odessa region, Blagarchuk O.V., investigator of the investigative department of the Kominternivskyi Special Administrative Region of the Main Police Department in the Odessa region.
Sentence
On February 23, 2021, the Seaside District Court of Odesa convicted public activist, blogger Serhiy Sternenko for 7 years and 3 months with confiscation of ½ of the property.
Along with Sternenko, his associate Ruslan Demchuk was convicted.
Sternenko was found guilty in full under Part 2 of Article 146 (“Unlawful Deprivation of Liberty or Kidnapping of a Person”), Part 2 of Article 187 (“Robbery”) and Part 1 of Article 263 (“Illegal Handling of Weapons, Ammunition or Explosives”) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Grounds for accusation
The basis for the case against Sternenko was a statement by Serhiy Shcherbich, a former deputy of the Lymansky district council of Odessa and a member of the pro-Russian Rodina party. According to Shcherbich, in the spring of 2015, Sternenko, together with Demchuk, allegedly
then they kidnapped him, drove him around the city with a bag on his head, took away 300 UAH and 2 SIM cards and demanded to sign a mandate. The investigation materials also indicate that Shcherbich was beaten and shot at with a starting pistol, kept in some basement and tortured.
Defense position
Serhiy's defense claims that there was no legal basis for the verdict.
Thus, Article 187 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “Robbery” clearly regulates that robbery is an attack with the aim of seizing someone else’s property. In this case, the investigation contradicts itself: if we take at face value that the aim of the “kidnapping” was to force him to surrender his deputy’s mandate, then the version that Sternenko and his associates grabbed Shcherbich in order to seize 300 hryvnias and two SIM cards contradicts the aim of “forcing the deputy to surrender his mandate.”
And the very goal of "seizing 300 hryvnias," voiced by the investigation and the prosecutor, seems, to put it mildly, illogical.
The crime under Article 146 “Unlawful Deprivation of Liberty or Kidnapping of a Person” is not serious, and more than 5 years have passed since the beginning of the investigation, that is, the term for bringing to justice.
Further – Art. 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “Illegal handling of weapons, ammunition or explosives”. Serhiy Sternenko did not use a firearm, and the pistol he had was a starter pistol, which is not a weapon. The investigation in this matter referred to the non-existent law on weapons. In addition, Serhiy Sternenko himself voluntarily surrendered his starter pistol, which, however, both the investigative authorities and the judge refused to take into account.
