On January 7, 2026, the HACC Appeals Chamber separated the materials related to the civil claim in the case of former State Fiscal Service head Roman Nasirov into separate proceedings and suspended the criminal proceedings on the appeal filed by Ukrgasvydobuvannya JSC until the appellate court rules on the verdict on the merits of the other appeals.

The civil claim was filed by Ukrgasvydobuvannya, which says it suffered UAH 45 million in damages and seeks to recover that amount from Nasirov. The first-instance court refused to grant the claim, and we covered the reasons for that decision in our article.

At the beginning of today’s hearing, none of the lawyers for Nasirov or for another defendant, Novikov, appeared, citing various reasons, including other court commitments, medical reasons, and vacation leave. In addition, one of Nasirov’s defense lawyers terminated her legal services agreement with him.

Two of Nasirov’s lawyers later did appear in court. The defense insisted the hearing should be postponed due to the absence of four other defense lawyers. The prosecutor and the representative of the civil claimant objected. As a result, the court found the reasons for the lawyers’ absence unjustified and continued the hearing.

After that, the court continued reading the prosecutor’s objections to Nasirov’s appeal and later announced a recess until 01:00 PM. The hearing is to continue after the recess.

Nasirov is a defendant in the so-called Onyshchenko “gas case.” He is accused of unlawfully granting installment plans for tax debt and subsoil-use rent payments to companies linked to Onyshchenko, causing the state about UAH 2 billion in losses. On October 31, the HACC sentenced Nasirov to six years’ imprisonment, a UAH 17,000 fine, and a ban on holding office, while acquitting Novikov. The verdict is currently under appellate review.