Murder along the way

In Ukraine, the body of lawyer Yuri Grabovsky was found - before his disappearance on March 5, he defended Alexander Alexandrov, one of the two detained Russian citizens, the trial of whom is now in the Ukrainian capital (see dossier). It has already been established - this is a murder. To whom and why it could be needed - the New Times sorted out

Lawyer Yu. Grabovsky (left) and accused A. Alexandrov and E. Erofeev (behind glass) in the Goloseevsky court of Kiev, November 17, 2015

The body of Yuri Grabovsky, an influential lawyer with extensive ties, the special forces of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Alfa found at 4 a.m. 27 km from the city of Zhashkov (Cherkasy region) in one of the collective farm gardens in the ground. According to the chief military prosecutor of Ukraine Anatoly Matios, Grabovsky died "violently with firearms." At the place of murder, they found money. The investigation quickly came to the conclusion that they belong to the performers of the crime. It was possible to establish his place thanks to the testimony of a lawyer suspect in the abduction of a lawyer “using psychotropic means” on March 24. A bracelet with explosives - a lawyer, as the suspect showed, was tied to the leg of the dead Grabovsky, they warned: you’ll think about running away. As a result, they shot.

Prosecutor's argument

In general, there were two suspects. The one who shot at Grabovsky was detained on March 20 at the Odessa Airport to arrive from the Egyptian resort of Sharm Ash-Sheikh-he had a false certificate of an employee of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine. He flew to Egypt after the murder of Grabovsky, taking with him his debit and credit cards, from which, as it turned out later, all the money was withdrawn. And there, in Sharm-Ash-Sheikh, using the phone of the murdered and his accounts on social networks, he sent the Sesapes and posted posts with photographs, as it were, on behalf of the lawyer. For what? For what? In whose interests? Is it a pure criminal or anything else?

The prosecutor Matios makes it clear that the criminals indirectly acted in the interests of Russia. After the propaganda, the trial of the Nadezhda Savchenko Moscow, they say, is ready to make every effort to delay the sentencing Alexander Alexandrov and Evgeny Erofeev, whom Ukraine considers the current military personnel of the GRU. “If the two pears of these pears will be pronounced, it means that the fact of Russia's hybrid war in Ukraine will receive significant confirmation,” explains Matios, who had already managed to make a public statement: the hearing will take place under any circumstances, the death of Grabovsky will not affect him in any way.

The prosecutor Matios makes it clear that the criminals indirectly acted in the interests of Russia. After the propaganda of the unprofitable trial of her, the hope of the hope of Savchenko Moscow, they say, is ready to make every effort to delay the sentence to Alexander Alexandrov and Evgeny Erofeev

Another strange event occurred in Kyiv a couple of weeks ago: to the apartment of the chief witness in the case of Aleksandrov-Georheev-Kirill Veres, a former SBU operative, and now a soldier of the 92nd Armed Forces of the Armed Forces (it was precisely such data that came from the Ministry of Defense in response to a request from NT), who delayed Erofeev and Aleksandrov last year in the village of the happiness of the Luhansk region, unknown people broke. Only the wife of Veres and one and a half year old son were in the apartment. Both, according to Veres, were tied with tape, his wife pulled the bag on his head and began to interrogate - they say, where the weapon is in the house. Then they retired.

Veres himself, however, does not connect this attack with the case of two Russians.

"Tolik-Teplovisor"

Sources in the SBU, as well as the prosecutor Matios, insist that the murder of Grabovsky, who supposedly “had contacts with foreign special services”, could be beneficial to Russia in order to delay the process of Alexandrov -Erofeev and to disrupt the opportunity to exchange them for Nadezhda Savchenko, whose sentence is 22 years of colony of general regime - already announced.

Oksana Sokolovskaya, a lawyer of another detained Russian - Captain Evgeny Erofeev, refrains from comments on this. She herself previously repeatedly complained about threats received by her in social networks and through the SSMEC message, and in December she filed a petition with a request to provide her and her close guards. The court granted the petition only at the last meeting, March 21, after the disappearance of Grabovsky. Now Sokolovskaya is guarded by SBU fighters.

Meanwhile, Sokolovskaya has a different view of the situation. She associates threats addressed from a conversation with her from a conversation with her that "protects the Russian military." And “presses on it”, according to her, the military prosecutor's office of Ukraine, which is just interested in pulling the process. And this became clear even before the murder of Grabovsky. “The two previous sessions of the court were postponed due to some“ technical problems, ”Sokolovskaya draws attention,“ and for the second time they talked about some threat to the life of the accused during their escort. ”

Extracts from the order of dismissal to the reserve of A. Alexandrov and E. Erofeev. To the question NT, where he got these documents, the late lawyer Yu. Grabovsky refused to answer

However, her client Captain Yevgeny Erofeev, during the break of the last court session, noticed in a conversation with NT that she and Aleksandrov are already aware of the preparation of attempts on them from television agencies, who regularly look in the cell. At this moment, Erofeev began to laugh: "I even know who ordered me." - "Who?" -“Tolik-Teplovisor” (as the military prosecutor Matios is called in Ukraine, who, after an allegedly failed attempt to attempt on the Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin in December last year, that the sniper, with the help of a thermal imager through the wall, calculated the whereabouts of the target. The country laughed for a long time: the public was represented by a bullet in a glass that turned out to be armored).

Another detail: in January, Yuri Grabovsky provided NT documents called, in his opinion, to prove that at the time of the detention in the village of the happiness of the Lugansk region, neither Erofeev nor Alexandrov were no longer military servants of the regular army of the Russian Federation (see pictures at the top). At the same time, he made it clear that his colleague Sokolovskaya also had the same documents. But from the answer to the question of where the documents were received and whether he turned to the relevant authorities of the Russian Federation or the self -proclaimed LPR, Grabovsky dodged. It is also known that he himself has repeatedly expressed confidence in the final gain of the case for the "failure of the accusations."

Dossier

Sergeant Alexander Aleksandrov and Captain Yevgeny Erofeev were detained by Ukrainian troops on May 16, 2015 in the area of the village of Happiness of the Luhansk region after a clash with the Armed Forces, as a result of which one Ukrainian soldier died and three were injured. Ukraine accuses both of illegally crossing the border, illegal weapons, as well as the attack of a terrorist attack - for this they are facing a life imprisonment. During interrogations, they first called themselves the current Russian military servants-their lawyers put forward the demand: to organize the trial of them in accordance with the Geneva Convention. But then the detainees refused their testimony as “made under pressure”. The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office insists that Alexandrov and Erofeev are fighters of the GRU of the Russian Federation. Moscow claims that Russian citizens by that time no longer served in Russian aircraft. The trial of Alexandrov and Erofeev has been going on since November 2015.

Now, after the murder of Grabovsky, Sergeant Alexandrov will be defended by lawyer Valentin Rybin. By the way, he also protects other Russians detained in Ukraine on charges of “aiding a terrorist organization (Art. 258-3)”-these are not military, but civilians, as well as the ex-head of the Main Directorate of the SBU in Kyiv, General Alexander Shchegolev, who is judged during the events on the Maidan of February 18, 2014-this was the first of three turning point during the revolution, which is called in Russia, which is called in Russia in Russia. "Come Coup."

In a conversation, Rybin recalls that it was he who will represent the interests of Alexandrov and Erofeev in court, the relatives of both Russians agreed with him on May 20, 2015, three days after their detention in happiness. But for some reason the commandos themselves refused his services, after which they were allocated by defenders from the state. Rybin asked the court to postpone the next meeting so that he had the opportunity to familiarize himself with the case file. But he was given time only until April 5th.

"Volunteers in the LPR"

Witnesses from the prosecution have already been interviewed in the Goloseevsky District Court of Kyiv, now it was the turn of witnesses of defense. During the previous meetings, lawyers asked to interrogate witnesses in the video conference mode - policemen from the self -proclaimed LPR, who, according to Oksana Sokolovskaya, can prove: Erofeev and Alexandrov were not in the Donbass not as the Russian military, but as “volunteers in the LPR”. And at the same time, to tell the court how both Russians got into the LPR and what functions they performed there.

During the interrogation of witnesses of the prosecution, the testimony was already given by three: Viktor Nikolyuk, the commander of the 92nd separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who discovered, according to the Ukrainian side, the Russian reconnaissance group, already mentioned by Kirill Veres, as well as military doctor Yevgeny Antonyuk, who was in May 2015 in the 59th military medical personnel in May 2015 The hospital, based in the city of the city, happiness of the Lugansk region. It was Antonyuk who operated on both detainees who were injured in the hand and in the leg.

Antonyuk was interrogated on December 15, 2015. Describing the events of May 16 of the same year, he said that there was a fight that day, after which the wounded were taken to the hospital: first, a soldier of the 92nd Armed Forces of Ukraine Vadim Pugachev, whose injuries were incompatible with life, and a few minutes later they brought Erofeev and Alexandrov:

“At that time, we did not know that they were military personnel of the Russian Federation. It turned out later ... I asked before the operation where he was - Erofeev. He says: "I am from the Volga." I ask: "What Volga?" He replied: "From Samara." I ask: "So who are you?" - "I'm on the other side."

Antonyuk also noted that Erofeev asked him "not to amputate anything to him."

In the process of communicating with Erofeev, according to the witness, it turned out that both detainees were military personnel of the Russian Federation. “He (Erofeev) said that he is the captain of the GRU special forces. Aleksandrov later said that he was a military personnel of the Russian army, ”the medic said. And to the question "Why did you come to this (Ukrainian. - NT) checkpoint?" Grushniki replied that "the authorities informed him that there was no one there."

The remaining two witnesses - Nikolyuk and Veres - were interrogated on December 29. According to Nikolyuk, who also participated in the detention of special forces of the Russian Federation, "Alexandrov immediately admitted that he was a Russian intelligence officer, Erofeev called the militia." In turn, Veres informed the court that he had a video made in the hospital, where Erofeev was lying after he was injured - in the video he allegedly admitted that he was a Russian military. And even before these testimonies, December 3, material evidence was presented in court, in particular a sniper rifle, which, according to the prosecution, belonged to Evgeny Erofeev. The accused, however, immediately stated that he sees her for the first time.