Two years without Katia. When will the masterminds behind Gandziuk’s murder be punished?

Two years without Katia. When will the masterminds behind Gandziuk’s murder be punished?

The case about the attack on Kateryna Gandziuk is now more than two years old. The latest hearing was held recently — here’s what has become known and the new circumstances in the case.

31 July 2018 attackers assaulted Kherson activist Kateryna Gandziuk — sulfuric acid was poured on her, and she later died in the hospital from her burns. That happened exactly 2 years ago, 4 November. Today is the anniversary of her death; the outlet "Rubryka" recalls the events that unfolded over the past year.

Who has already been convicted?

All five perpetrators received from 3 to 6,5 years in prison. Among them was Serhiy Torbin, the organizer of the group, who received a guilty verdict of 6,5 years in June 2019; the direct attacker Mykyta Hrabchuk was imprisoned for 6 years, Volodymyr Vasyanovych, who drove Vyshnevskyi, and Vyacheslav Vyshnevskyi, who tracked Kateryna Gandziuk, each received 4 years in prison, and Viktor Horbunov, who purchased the acid, was sentenced to 3 years. Another figure in the case, Ihor Pavlovskyi, was convicted for concealing the crime. The deceased activist’s father, Viktor Gandziuk, called the outcome of the trial a performance:

"From three to six years. For murder. With particular cruelty. With the infliction of particular suffering. Committed by a group of persons by prior agreement. Commissioned. For money. It’s painful, disgusting, shameful in light of Katia’s bright memory. Shameful for the state… In exchange for part of the information and a confession of guilt — a change in the charge, and therefore a reduction of prison terms. Convenient for prosecutors — they don’t have to gather evidence, the crime is solved, the case is sent to court, public tension decreases. Convenient for judges — at least the hearing will end quickly," Viktor Gandziuk commented on Facebook.

The perpetrators were punished, but not the masterminds. In January the case moved forward again, its review was opened based on newly discovered circumstances, and Katia’s friends and family gained hope that now the masterminds would be held accountable. Over the last year, two people involved in Kateryna’s murder ended up in pretrial detention: Oleksiy Levin and Vladyslav Manger.

Vladyslav Manger 2 years served as head of the Kherson Regional Council. Before that he spent a year as head of LLC "Ekozerno", a company engaged in the storage and processing of grain crops that owns one of the largest elevators in southern Ukraine. The company is owned by Vladyslav’s wife, Iryna Manger. In 2017 the company was implicated in a criminal case for creating business entities to cover illegal activities that caused significant material damage to the state, evading taxes in especially large amounts with the involvement of former law enforcement officers, as well as abuse of office by law enforcement officials that caused severe consequences.

The second suspect is Oleksiy Levin, who, according to the investigation, is a criminal authority in the Kherson region; he worked as an assistant to regional council deputy Mykola Stavytskyi and was an advisor to the head of the Kherson Regional Council, Vladyslav Mykolayovych Manger. Levin was previously sentenced to 12 years in prison — including for crimes related to preparations for murders. After Katia Gandziuk’s murder he fled abroad, but Interpol detained him in Bulgaria and Levin was extradited back to Ukraine.

The cases against Levin and Manger are now in the Dnipro District Court. They tried to appeal the decision to detain them, but at the hearing on 15 October the court denied the motion: Manger will remain in pretrial detention until 13 December 2020, and Levin until 15 December.

The former assistant to the MP Ihor Pavlovskyi was convicted of concealing the crime. But let’s go in order.

"Currently the trial is ongoing on the charges against former head of the Kherson Regional Council Manger and his accomplice — previously convicted for murders Levin — for organizing the attack on Kateryna Gandziuk," commented defense attorney Yevhenia Zakrevska directly from the courtroom, Katia’s defender. "We questioned four important witnesses. We are examining written evidence. The investigation has already said its piece. The case is with the court. A pretrial investigation is still ongoing in a factual proceeding where evidence is being collected regarding other masterminds," Ms. Zakrevska told reporters.

Pavlovskyi reached a deal with the investigation. What did he say?

The case figure, former assistant to ex-MP from BPP Mykola Palamarchuk, Ihor Pavlovskyi, was detained earlier this year and informed of new suspicions, including creating an organized criminal group. Initially Pavlovskyi was mentioned in the Gandziuk case as a mediator between the alleged mastermind Manger and the perpetrators of the attack, but then he provided different testimony and struck a plea deal with the prosecution admitting guilt. Under the agreement he had to provide honest and truthful testimony about the circumstances of the attack on Gandziuk, and in return received a mitigation of punishment.

Ihor Pavlovskyi

He said that when on 3 August 2018 a perpetrator named Novikov was detained, Levin learned about the arrest. Apparently he did not know the identity of the detained person and thought they had detained Torbin, the organizer of the murder. Levin ran to Pavlovskyi’s office, was very upset, and said that Torbin needed a lawyer. When Pavlovskyi asked "why did they detain Torbin?" Levin said that "they poured acid on Kateryna Gandziuk," "Mykolaevych and I hired Torbin to deal with Gandziuk." Later, when it became clear they had detained Novikov and not Torbin, Levin begged Pavlovskyi not to tell Manger and Stavytskyi (the regional council deputy for whom Levin was an official assistant) that he had told Pavlovskyi that he (Levin) "with Mykolaevych hired Katia Gandziuk." Pavlovskyi said that Levin referred to Manger as "Mykolaevych," but later changed this testimony, he says, because of threats he received.

16 October the Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa found Pavlovskyi guilty of concealing a crime and sentenced him to 2 years of imprisonment, suspended with a one-year probation. During the hearing Pavlovskyi apologized to Gandziuk’s father.

Marina Khromykh, a close friend of Kateryna who still fights for her rights, considers the court’s decision unfair: "Today I was asked if I’m okay with Pavlovskyi receiving a suspended sentence. Of course I would like everyone involved to get life, and for us all to leave with a sense of duty fulfilled. But I don’t live under illusions about unicorns and rainbows. So it’s important to me that Pavlovskyi at least testified against Manger and Levin in the Dnipro court in Kyiv, where the trial of those two is taking place. It’s important to me that in that same court other witnesses confirmed the crime was planned specifically with acid. That the order was specifically for ACID," she writes on her Facebook page.

We asked attorney Zakrevska whether she considers each subsequent verdict regarding Ihor Pavlovskyi a victory?

"After Katia’s death there can be no victories here. These are necessary steps that need to be taken," she replied.

Pavlovskyi currently remains in pretrial detention because he is a suspect in the case about the Kherson criminal group, whose investigation is ongoing. Investigators believe Pavlovskyi created an organized criminal group that used connections with authorities and law enforcement to commit crimes and cover them up. "The group’s participants aimed at jointly committing crimes against property, crimes related to the intentional destruction of others’ property, jointly opposing lawful economic activity, illegal seizure of property of enterprises, establishments, organizations, crimes against public safety and crimes against a person’s life and health," the suspicion states.

New witnesses and confirmations of old theories

During hearings on 8 and 9 October witness and entrepreneur from Kherson region Serhiy Braga said that he used to be engaged in logging in the region and had the relevant license. But Oleksiy Levin and his father Oleksiy Moskalenko entered the industry. The entrepreneur was pushed out, the forest began to be set on fire and cut down by people of Vladyslav Manger and Levin, in particular entrepreneur Mykola Urmanov, and athletes under Levin’s leadership guarded the illegal logging. According to Braga, the May 2018 arson of the Oleshky forest, which Kateryna Gandziuk wrote about, was also Levin’s doing. So one of the main motives for the attack on Kateryna Gandziuk, according to the investigation’s version, was schemes related to embezzlement and arson of forests in the Kherson region that she had reported on.

According to Pavlovskyi, after an "anti-Maidan" protest against the logging trucks under the regional council, which Gandziuk criticized in a post, Manger let slip that "this Gandziuk needs to have her mouth shut." All these events took place in July 2018, and three weeks later the attack occurred.

When will everyone responsible for Katia Gandziuk’s death be punished?

The true number of people responsible for Kateryna Gandziuk’s death is still unknown. Activist and Kateryna’s friend Marina Khromykh says:

"According to numerous journalistic investigations, there were several masterminds, there were several organizers, and it’s still unknown how many people were involved who knew, covered up, assisted, or did anything else. At least they simply concealed it. We also don’t know the exact number of law enforcement officials who covered the criminals and sabotaged the investigation while it was under the Kherson police’s control, and there are also questions for the Prosecutor General’s Office under Yuriy Lutsenko. So the number of people directly involved in the crime, in covering it up and sabotaging the investigation is huge. And this question now depends on Ukrainian society and the demand it makes of the Ukrainian authorities."

Regarding other alleged masterminds, the names Andriy Hordeyev, the former head of the regional state administration, and his deputy Yevhen Ryshchuk — who this year became head of the Oleshky united territorial community — have repeatedly been mentioned. That is the community where the Oleshky forest is located, where illegal logging took and takes place, against which Kateryna Gandziuk actively spoke out.

Yesterday another hearing in the Manger and Levin case took place. It began almost 2 hours late due to the "delivery" of the suspects from the pretrial detention center being delayed for unknown reasons. The hearing examined written evidence, and it would have been mistaken to think it would be symbolic and decisive in the case. Toward the end of the hearing the judge expressed hope to examine all written evidence at least by the end of this year — which means the case will be delayed again. Kateryna’s defender Yevhenia Zakrevska later told a "Rubryka" journalist that she hopes a final decision will come within a year.

— Yevhenia, Kateryna Gandziuk has been gone from us for 2 years now, yet you still continue to defend her interests. What drives you to do this? Professional duty, personal conviction, or both?

— While Katia was alive I represented her interests as a victim. Now I represent the interests of her parents and husband, who are victims in these cases. I never had the thought to abandon the victims to their fate.

Photo radiosvoboda.org

As reported, 4 November memorial actions in honor of Kateryna Gandziuk took place in the largest cities of Ukraine.

Viktoriya Hubaryova, published in Rubryka