On January 21, 2026, the HACC Appeals Chamber continued hearing appeals against the verdict in the case concerning former State Fiscal Service head Roman Nasirov’s alleged involvement in Onyshchenko’s “gas scheme.”

Once again, not all of Nasirov’s defense lawyers appeared at the hearing for various reasons—vacations, participation in other court hearings, and sick leave. Only one lawyer was present, and Nasirov had terminated his contract with her the day before. The court took note of this and allowed her to no longer participate in the case. 

Due to the absence of defense counsel, Nasirov asked the court to adjourn the hearing. He also asked to involve his former defense lawyer, Yuliia Shvets, with whom he had terminated his contract back during closing arguments in the first instance, allegedly because she had gone abroad.

It should be noted that failures to appear and requests to postpone hearings in this case are systematic, indicating an abuse of procedural rights by the defense aimed at delaying the proceedings.

Ultimately, the panel of judges found the reasons for the defense lawyers’ absence unjustified and refused to adjourn the hearing. The court heard arguments on the defense appeals filed by another defendant, Volodymyr Novikov.

The next hearing will take place on January 28.

Nasirov was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment in the so-called Onyshchenko “gas case.” He was charged with unlawfully granting deferrals of tax debt and subsoil use rent to companies linked to Onyshchenko.