On May 24, 2018, a third attack on Sternenko and his girlfriend, Natalya Usatenko, was committed in Odessa. One of the two attackers, Ivan Kuznetsov, a resident of the city of Chornomorsk, was stabbed in the heart and stomach, from which he died. The other, Oleksandr Isaikul, managed to escape, but was detained by the police for 24 hours, but he was not even questioned. The attacker was later released by the police, he is already serving as a witness in the case, and soon Isaikul fled Ukraine.
Serhiy Sternenko suffered a knife wound to his hand and a concussion during the attack. Sternenko was receiving outpatient treatment at Odessa Hospital No. 1, where he was hospitalized after the attack. However, on the morning of May 26, the day after the attack, he was without warning stopped receiving medical care, referring to his discharge from the hospital, which was made at 10:30 on May 25. That is, he was discharged secretly, and retroactively.
The perpetrators of the attack on Sternenko have not been identified. According to Sternenko himself, the attempt on his life could have been organized by Oleksandr Podobedov (a middle-level "titushkovod") and Vitaliy Posuvailo.
Later, a witness appeared in the case of the attack on Sergei Sternenko, who spoke about the customer, the motives of the attackers, and the price offered to pay the perpetrator of the assassination attempt. So, on May 20, 2018, Kuznetsov met with the witness and said that Podobedov received an order from Trukhanov to "break the Nazi Sternenko," who was hindering him. Kuznetsov was looking for an assistant for this case and offered to pay $1,000 for it.
Journalists "Investigations. Info" found evidence, a map with the attackers' movement routes on the evening of the assassination attempt, where one of the documents indicates that shortly before the attack, four people: the attackers Isaikul and Kuznetsov, as well as two other people: Podobedov and Posuvailo, met near the scene of the assassination attempt, in the park of the regional council. It was Podobedov who brought Kuznetsov there. That is, the investigation has information about the movement of these four people on the evening of the attack on Sternenko, but none of them have yet been declared suspicious, and Podobedov and Posuvailo are not even witnesses in the case.
In October 2019, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine took Serhiy Sternenko's case from the police and transferred it to the Main Investigation Department of the SBU, due to the possible involvement of Odessa police officers in organizing the attack on the activist.
After appointment Attorney General Irina Venediktova, according to her former deputy Viktor Trepak, “showed great interest in this case (the third attack on Serhiy Sternenko) and at the first conversation about it told me that Sternenko should be immediately informed of the suspicion that he had committed a crime.” A few days later, Venediktova confirmed that “Sternenko will be suspected in any case.” Andriy Radionov, the senior prosecutor in the Sternenko case, refused to sign the suspicion against Serhiy due to the lack of evidence, after which he withdrew from the case altogether. Radionov then appealed to the Prosecutors’ Council because of the Prosecutor General’s public promise to “inform Sternenko of the suspicion in any case.”
March 25, 2020 In 2018, a meeting of the leadership of the Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs took place, which was attended by the newly appointed Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and her deputies, as well as the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov and the top leadership of the National Police. During the meeting, the parties “agreed to conduct the necessary investigative and procedural actions in a number of high-profile criminal proceedings,” and the most high-profile crimes in the Prosecutor General’s Office included not the case of the attack on Sternenko, but the case of the “murder of Ivan Kuznetsov.” Although the pre-trial investigation in the Sternenko case is being conducted SBU, and not the police, this did not prevent Avakov from discussing investigative and procedural actions with the Prosecutor General.
May 13, 2020 year former Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ryaboshapka stated that he was approached by unnamed people to influence the Sternenko case.
About the Sternenko case Ryaboshapka also said that it has another subtext, in particular, the authorities are trying to take revenge on Serhiy so that he receives a harsh punishment.
In May 2020 Venediktova stated that she "decided to disqualify the head of the prosecutor's office and the Prosecutor General from exercising their powers in this proceeding" (the Sternenko case), but lawyers are not aware of such a procedure, since it is possible to disqualify a specific prosecutor who participates in the case, and not the Prosecutor General in general.
A massive attack on Sternenko is underway, both from Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as pro-Russian political forces. April 16, 2020 in an interview "Newspapers" Sternenko said that the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs could also be behind the attacks. Sternenko argued this by saying that Avakov had said at meetings in March that Serhiy should go to prison.
June 11 Sternenko was informed of suspicion of committing a crime under Art. 115 Part 1 (intentional unlawful causing of death to another person) and Art. 263 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (carrying a cold weapon without a permit provided by law). According to Serhiy himself, the results of several examinations confirmed that the knife he used for self-defense and with which he fatally wounded one of the attackers was not a cold weapon.
June 11 Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union published an open statement in which it called the persecution of Sternenko politically motivated.
June 12 In the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv, a court hearing began on the election of a preventive measure for Sternenko. The investigating judge in the consideration of the petition is the odious Volodymyr Bugil. Clashes between activists and police officers occurred near the Shevchenko Court building. At that time, the court was choosing a preventive measure for Sternenko. Activists and MPs who planned to take Sternenko on bail were not allowed to the court session. The police used tear gas canisters, and empty bottles flew in response.
June 15 Clashes outside the courthouse continued, and police detained one of the organizers of the action, Mykola Vyhovsky, and two protest participants. People's Deputy Roman Lozynsky, who wanted to take Serhiy on bail, said that the police beat him. At least one of the police officers kicked the detained activist in the back, and activists also claim that the police officers violated the law during the arrests. Kyiv Police Chief Andriy Kryshchenko suspended two police officers who dared to beat activists.
June 16 Sternenko's place of house arrest was changed to Kyiv. During the hearing, Sternenko's lawyer requested the disqualification of Judge Olena Meleshak, but the request was rejected. The next court hearing was scheduled for June 26.
June 23 Ivan Kuznetsov, one of Sternenko's attackers, was cleared of suspicion. It was Kuznetsov who received a fatal wound to the heart during the attack. June 26 The Court of Appeal postponed the hearing of the appeal to change the preventive measure to July 3.
July 3 The Court of Appeal left the preventive measure unchanged, Sternenko was left with the requirement to remain under house arrest, and a review of the preventive measure was scheduled for the end of July. Shevchenko District Court Kyiv.
August 25 Supreme Court refused to transfer the consideration of Sternenko's case to Kyiv, the case was left for consideration in the Primorsky Court of Odessa.
