Court sentences organisers of activist Handziuk's murder: Manher and Levin get 10 years each

The Dniprovskyi District Court of Kyiv has announced a verdict in the case of the attack on Kherson activist Kateryna Handziuk: the accused orderer of the attack, Vladyslav Manher, and the organiser, Oleksii Levin (Moskalenko), were sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Source: broadcast of the court hearing; Miller Law Firm 

Details: The lawyers in the case of Kherson activist Kateryna Handziuk noted that this is the maximum sentence possible under the article under which the defendants were tried.

"The court recognised that it was Vladyslav Manher and Oleksii Levin who ordered and organised the attack on Kateryna. All the arguments, evidence and justifications we presented proved that it was a planned attack on the activist to intimidate her. As a result, the injuries caused her death," the lawyers said.

The defendants must also pay 15 million hryvnias [approximately US$403,000 – ed.] for non-pecuniary damage to Handziuk's parents and husband. The court fully satisfied the terms of the victims' civil claim and ordered the defendants to pay this amount jointly and severally.

The defence has 30 days to appeal the verdict. After that, it will come into force. 

For reference: Vladyslav Manher was the head of Kherson Oblast State Council at the time. He was served a notice of suspicion for potential murder of Kateryna Handziuk. Starting from the middle of 2018, there were accusations against Vladyslav Manher of his involvement in the murder of Kateryna Handziuk, allegedly due to a conflict between them. Handziuk who was an activist accused the regional authorities, including Manher, of involvement in deforestation, and also called him an organiser of the Anti-Maidan movement (the movement against European integration in 2013-2014, which took place in opposition to the Revolution of Dignity – ed.) and a 'criminal protege'. Manher denied these allegations. He also claimed that he did not know the main suspect in the murder who was Levin.

Oleksii Levin has long been known as a criminal authority in Kherson. Levin was convicted of murder but released in June 2016. After that, he became an assistant to Mykola Stavytskyi, a member of Kherson Oblast Council, who is in Manher's close circle.

Background:

• On 31 July 2018, Kherson activist and advisor to the mayor Kateryna Handziuk was doused with acid. She died in hospital four months later. At first, the police classified the crime as hooliganism, and then called it premeditated murder.  
• Six people were convicted in the case: the perpetrators Mykyta Hrabchuk, Volodymyr Vasianovych, Viacheslav Vyshnevskyi, Viktor Horbunov, the organiser Serhii Torbin and Ihor Pavlovskyi, the assistant to MP Mykola Palamarchuk. The latter was convicted of concealing the crime. 
• The trial of the defendants Vladyslav Manher and Oleksii Levin lasted more than three years. They denied their guilt.
• For more information on the murder of Kateryna Handziuk and why it is significant, please see this article.

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