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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Court suspends the case against the son of the Pryluky mayor, Yaroslav Popenko, who sold drugs at the city sports school, due to his service in the Armed Forces.
The Pryluky City District Court suspended proceedings in the criminal case against Yaroslav Popenko, who is accused of systematically selling drugs. The reason was his military service and performance of combat duties.
This was reported by a Suspilne correspondent who was present at the hearing 28 August.
The decision was made by Pryluky City District Court judge Anatoliy Kovalenko. Defense attorney Ihor Fesyk’s motion to suspend proceedings due to Popenko’s mobilization was under consideration for about 4 months.
During this time the court tried to establish exactly where the defendant was serving and whether he could participate in hearings via videoconference.
From June to August the court contacted the command of the military unit several times. The responses stated that “soldier Popenko can participate in the court hearing using videoconference.”
At the same time, the responsible person whose contact details were provided to the court each time reported an inability to organize a videoconference. The reason given was that Popenko was carrying out a combat mission.
The last time the court contacted a representative of the military unit was 27 August, on the eve of the hearing.
“On 27 August, in order to obtain information regarding Popenko’s ability to participate in the court hearing by videoconference, the court for the third time contacted the contact person specified in the letter from the military unit, who reported that at present soldier Popenko Yaroslav Mykolayovych is carrying out a combat mission, and therefore it does not seem possible to ensure his participation in the court hearing on 28 August or during subsequent hearings by videoconference,” — Anatoliy Kovalenko reported.
Attorney Ihor Fesyk supported his own motion and stated that information about his client’s participation in combat operations is sufficient grounds to suspend the proceedings.
“The main answer here is that soldier Popenko is participating in combat operations, and this shows that it is practically impossible even to hold this hearing via videoconference. I support the filed motion, because today such information provides sufficient grounds to suspend the proceedings in the case,” the defender said.
Prosecutor Anatoliy Sukhonos also did not object to suspending the review. According to him, without the defendant’s participation it is impossible to conduct the trial, and attempts to establish contact with Popenko yielded no results.
“Since it is impossible to conduct the trial without the defendant, measures were also taken on my part to establish communication with Popenko, but it was not possible to do so. I consider it necessary to suspend the proceedings of this criminal case in connection with the defendant Popenko’s service in the Armed Forces,” the prosecutor said.
In addition to suspending the proceedings, the court ordered Popenko to immediately notify the court if the circumstances that led to the suspension cease to exist. The same obligation was placed on the commander of the military unit. He must also inform the court about Popenko’s release or his transfer to another military unit.
What is known about Yaroslav Popenko’s case
Yaroslav Popenko was detained 16 July on suspicion of systematically selling drugs. On 18 July the Pryluky City District Court imposed a preventive measure of detention for 2 months with the possibility of bail in the amount of 242 thousand 240 hryvnias. Later, bail was posted for him.
On 7 August the Chernihiv Court of Appeal suspended Popenko from the position of deputy director of the Pryluky Youth Sports School.
On 19 September Popenko’s lawyer asked the Pryluky City District Court to cancel the notice of suspicion. On 24 September the court denied that motion. The defense filed an appeal with the Chernihiv Court of Appeal.
On 15 October, at the appellate court, Popenko’s defenders tried to challenge the notice of suspicion for drug distribution. The court denied this.
Later Popenko tried to be reinstated at the youth sports school, but on 14 November the Pryluky court refused him.
On 15 January 2026 the judge Anatoliy Kovalenko issued an order for the forcible delivery of Popenko to a court hearing. On 22 January he appeared in court after 2 months of treatment, but the case was again not heard due to the absence of his lawyer.
On 26 January Popenko returned to work. On 3 February the court again suspended him from the position and began consideration of the indictment on the merits.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Суд зупинив справу сина мера Прилук Ярослава Попенка, який продавав наркотики в міській спортшколі, через його службу в ЗСУ". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ANTIKOR.
