Attorney Masi Nayyem: If we do not succeed on appeal now, Sternenko could receive new convictions

Lawyer Masi Nayem: If we do not succeed in the appeal now, Sernenko may face new verdicts

If the defense of activist Serhiy Sternenko does not succeed in the appeal being prepared within the case of kidnapping a person, the court may issue new verdicts regarding other episodes in which the prosecutor accuses the activist.

This opinion was expressed on the air of Radio NV by Masi Nayem, Sternenko's lawyer.

“If society protests very strongly, maybe they will change something in this verdict [from 23 February]. But the next verdict is on the agenda, and in general there are three such verdicts — look at how [OPZZh MP Illia Kyva] talks about it, that there will definitely be another verdict. They are confident in the court's decision. And this gives me the understanding that if we do not “beat back” the verdict now, there may also be unlawful decisions in other cases,” he said.

23 February 2021 year the Primorsky District Court of Odesa convicted activist Serhiy Sternenko of seven years and three months of imprisonment with confiscation of half of his property.

In the courtroom Sternenko was handcuffed and taken to the detention center. His supporters tried to block the exit of the special vehicle.

The decision was made in the five-year-old case of kidnapping the newly elected deputy of the Kominterska district council of Odesa region Serhiy Shcherbych.

According to the investigation, 24 April 2015 year the then leader of the Odesa cell of Right Sector Sternenko and his comrade Ruslan Demchuk were among the kidnappers of Shcherbych. The victim was beaten, tortured, and forced to renounce his deputy mandate. Shcherbych was released, before this allegedly he had 300 hryvnias stolen from him.

Serhiy Sternenko denies involvement in the kidnapping of Shcherbych. According to him, the case is based solely on Shcherbych's words, and the verdict was written on Bankova Street.

Head of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office Serhiy Kostenko replied that the court's decision was based on direct evidence of the defendant's guilt.

After the verdict was announced, protests against the verdict of the activist began all over Ukraine. The largest rallies took place in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Odesa, Kharkiv, Chernivtsi.

During the rally under the President's Office in Kyiv, 24 people were detained, several protesters and law enforcement officers were injured.

Sternenko is also suspected of deliberate murder and illegal possession of weapons: in 2018 year Alexander Isaykul and Ivan Kuznetsov attacked him, the latter died from a stabbing wound as a result of resisting the activist. 29 January 2021 year Sternenko was released on a pledge of bail by People’s Deputy from the Holos faction Roman Lozynskyi.