The European Court of Human Rights deemed the actions of SAP leader Klimenko unlawful in the case involving the lawyer of fugitive oligarch Onishchenko.
The lawyer of the former fugitive MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko, Oleksandr Serhiyenko, will receive €15,000 from the state for the negligent investigation of Serhiyenko's complaint about abuse by Oleksandr Klymenko, who was the head of the NABU detective group in 2016.
The corresponding decision was made by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on November 7, 2024. This was reported by the publication "Ukrainian News," citing a column by political scientist Volodymyr Soniyuk.
The court recognized a violation of the lawyer's rights by NABU.
It is noted that the circumstances of this case
are directly related to a corruption scheme involving the company "Ukrgazvydobuvannia." Serhiyenko represented Onyshchenko's interests in this case. Both he and Onyshchenko are accused in a case related to gas fraud. According to investigative data, the suspects, including Serhiyenko, participated in obtaining gas under a joint activity agreement, which was classified as theft and document forgery.
In June 2016, Serhiyenko was arrested and taken into custody. In September of the same year, the court changed his preventive measure to round-the-clock house arrest. However, the next day, while transporting him from the pre-trial detention center (SIZO) to his home, NABU re-arrested him on new suspicions, as stated in the material.
Three days later, the court ordered Serhiyenko to be detained as part of a new investigation. The lawyer immediately appealed this decision, but had to wait almost a month for the appeal. Ultimately, the complaint was rejected.
The publication reports that during this arrest, the lawyer sustained bodily injuries, including bruises on his chest, arms, and nose, which were documented upon his return to SIZO. The court mandated an investigation into the possible abuse, and NABU initiated proceedings. However, law enforcement established that Serhiyenko behaved inappropriately during the detention. Therefore, during the conflict, the officers merely responded to the lawyer's resistance by using handcuffs. The investigation concluded that the actions of the NABU officers were lawful and that there was no criminal offense.
Following this, Serhiyenko decided to appeal to the ECHR. This court determined that the investigation into the applicant's complaints of abuse did not meet the requirements of independence and effectiveness, as it was conducted by the same body (NABU) that was investigating against him. Moreover, the state of Ukraine did not provide sufficient evidence to refute the applicant's claims of mistreatment.
"The court found that the 28-day period for considering the appeal against the detention ruling is excessively long, violating the right to a speedy judicial review of the legality of detention. The ECHR also ordered Ukraine to pay Serhiyenko €15,000 in compensation for the violation of his rights," the statement says.
As Soniyuk notes, Onyshchenko's lawyers hope that this decision will help dismantle the "gas case," as the ECHR pointed out serious violations by the detectives at the pre-trial investigation stage, as well as numerous abuses and violations of rights both for the defendants and the lawyers.
"Thus, Klymenko, who led the group of detectives, effectively facilitated and directed actions aimed at violating the rights of individuals protected under Article 3 of the Convention," he explains. "It is evident that Klymenko feels quite secure in his position, as the damages awarded by the ECHR will be covered by the state, rather than the then-head of the NABU detectives," he added.
According to him, this simple example illustrates the low effectiveness of anti-corruption investigations, either due to insufficient professional competence, ordinary negligence, or the corruption of "anti-corruption" agencies, the costs of which are borne by the state budget, meaning taxpayer money.