Lutsenko: Prosecutor’s Office Might Appeal in Kotsaba Case

On July 16, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said it was possible that the Prosecutor General’s Office will file a cassation appeal in the case of blogger Ruslan Kotsaba, Radio Svoboda reports.

"The law prohibits me from criticizing any court decisions, but I can say that we will carefully analyze the court’s decision in the Kotsaba case and will possibly file a cassation appeal. In fact, experts – not prosecutors – found that Kotsaba’s statements encouraged draft dodging and could jeopardize national defense," he told.

So far, the Prosecutor’s office did not receive the court decision. When it is available, they will consider the feasibility of appealing it.

On July 14, the Appeals Court of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast declared journalist Ruslan Kotsaba not guilty of treason and released him from custody. The prosecution requested the court to sentence Kotsaba to 13 years of imprisonment with seizure of property.

On May 12, Ivano-Frankivsk City Court convicted him for ‘obstruction of the activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine’ and sentenced him to 3.5 years in prison. Kotsaba was detained in early 2015 for allegedly seeking to disrupt military conscription after the start of military conflict between Ukrainian military and Russia-backed separatists in Donbas.

The independent media trade union of Ukraine considered the charge against Kotsaba as lacking proper justification. Amnesty International declared Kotsaba a ‘prisoner of conscience’ and requested to release him from custody.

Source: Ukrayinska Pravda