On December 13, 2024, investigating judge Lesia Fedorak imposed an interim measure on Vasyl Artymovych in the form of detention with the alternative of UAH 20 million bail. In the event of posting bail, the following obligations will be imposed on him:
- to appear when summoned to the court and the investigator;
- not to leave the Kyiv region without permission;
- to notify the court of a change of place of residence;
- to refrain from communicating with suspects and witnesses;
- to surrender his international passport;
- to wear an electronic bracelet.
The NABU and the SAPO suspect Vasyl Artymovych, the former head of the Lviv Regional Economic Court, and Mykhailo Yurkevych of extorting an unlawful advantage in the amount of USD 1 million from a representative of Luhovskyi's private company. The case also involves Borys Plotnitskyi, the former head of the Western Economic Court of Appeal. According to the investigation, the defendants promised to make favorable court decisions in the proceedings pending before the Western Commercial Court of Appeal.
The prosecutor provided the protocols of covert investigative (search) actions with recorded conversations between the defendants and Luhovskyi; they discussed the amount of the unlawful advantage and the details of the scheme. He also justified the need for interim measures and asked to impose detention with the alternative of a bail of UAH 30.2 million on Artymovych.
The defense argued that the prosecutor did not provide evidence of the risks, but only cited and interpreted the covert investigative (search) actions. On December 12, judges of the Lviv Regional Economic Court voted to dismiss Artymovych based on his resignation letter, and the HCJ temporarily suspended him from administering justice. Thus, in their opinion, he cannot exert influence on witnesses.
The defense also noted that Artymovych had constantly donated money to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and purchased humanitarian aid. In addition, he does not have enough financial resources to go into hiding, especially since the HACC has already seized part of his property. Therefore, UAH 30 million is an excessive amount of bail.