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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The Kyiv District Court of Poltava suspended proceedings in the criminal case against the former mayor of Sloviansk, Donetsk region, Nelya Shtepa. The basis for that decision were medical findings, reports Hlavcom citing the court register.
In particular, a multidisciplinary oncology council of the state enterprise National Cancer Institute stated that Nelya Shtepa has a severe long-term illness that precludes her participation in the trial.
The court agreed with the doctors’ assessments and suspended review of Shtepa’s case until she recovers.
In addition, the court received a motion from the defense attorney to cancel the compulsory summons and the search for the defendant. In response to this motion, the judiciary noted that 6 April 2026 the year Shtepa was declared wanted because she had been systematically ignoring court hearings. At the same time, the order for the compulsory summons of the defendant has now expired; accordingly, the search for the defendant has been terminated.
We add that this year Nelya Shtepa turned 66 years old. The review of her criminal case has been ongoing since the fall of 2014. During that time Shtepa’s case has been heard in six judicial instances: Osnovianskyi District Court of Kharkiv (formerly Chervonozavodskyi District Court), Slobidskyi District Court of Kharkiv (Kominternivskyi District Court), Kholodnohirskyi District Court of Kharkiv (Leninskyi District Court), Novobavarskyi District Court of Kharkiv (Zhovtnevyi District Court), Industrialnyi District Court of Kharkiv (Ordzhonikidzevskyi District Court), and the Kyiv District Court of Poltava. However, none of the above courts has issued a verdict in Nelya Shtepa’s case.
Recall that at the hearing on 9 February 2021 the year Shtepa filed a motion to summon 50 defense witnesses to the court, including former head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration Serhiy Taruta, former acting head of the Presidential Administration Serhiy Pashynskyi, former head of the Security Service of Ukraine Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and the fifth president of Ukraine (2014–2019) Petro Poroshenko. The court decided to allow the examination in court of all witnesses proposed by both the prosecution and the defense, reminding the parties of their right to refuse the examination of any particular witness.
For reference. Nelya Shtepa was detained in July 2014. In 8 October 2014 she was officially notified of the final suspicion of committing criminal offenses provided for in part 3 of article 110 (encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine that caused the death of people) and part 1 of article 258–3 (creation of a terrorist group or organization) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The prosecutor’s office notes that the former mayor of Sloviansk, Shtepa, faces life imprisonment.
In turn, Shtepa said she does not consider herself guilty. She claimed she did not organize any separatist actions in support of the “DPR” (according to Shtepa, those were carried out by local socialists and communists). Instead, on 5 March 2014 she organized the “Sloviansk — for Ukraine” rally at the request of the then head of the Donetsk ODA Serhiy Taruta. Moreover, 12 days before the seizure of Sloviansk Shtepa sent 72 telegrams to central authorities asking them to respond to the situation that had arisen.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "12 років без вироку. Розгляд справи Нелі Штепи зупинено: названо причину". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZmiOne.
