This week, the HACC reviewed a defense motion to suspend criminal proceedings against Ivan Fishchenko. He and MP Oleksandr Yurchenko are accused of accepting a bribe in exchange for putting to a Verkhovna Rada vote proposed amendments to legislation on the “green tariff” for electricity, and for subsequently bribing other MPs.
Fishchenko has served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine since being mobilized in 2022. He had been joining hearings by video conference, but the court repeatedly recorded his absence due to lost connection or his deployment in combat operations or training, resulting in hearings being postponed or interrupted.
According to our monitoring, hearings were postponed due to Fishchenko's absence at least 11 times. As a result, the court was unable to proceed to his questioning for several months. Even when hearings were scheduled on dates previously convenient for Fishchenko, he still sometimes failed to appear. At one point, the presiding judge urged the defense to consider suspending the proceedings if Fishchenko's military service continued to obstruct the case.
At the start of the August 11, 2026 hearing on the defense motion, the court reported it had received a response from Fishchenko's military unit. According to the unit, Fishchenko is in an active combat zone carrying out combat tasks, and the unit cannot ensure his appearance at hearings. In correspondence with the court secretary, the unit commander said they had attempted to deliver a Starlink terminal to allow the defendant to join remotely, but he was unable to connect for today's hearing.
Fishchenko's lawyer supported suspending the proceedings against his client, arguing that the situation at the front had worsened, so the defendant could not leave his post and instead had to fulfill his duty to defend the state. The lawyer added that all evidence had already been examined at this stage, witnesses and Fishchenko himself had been questioned, and the defense had almost no remaining questions for the other defendant, Oleksandr Yurchenko.
The prosecutor proposed first requesting additional confirmation from the military unit — combat orders documenting Fishchenko's presence in the active combat zone, and documents confirming that the defendant could not take part in hearings even by video conference.
Yurchenko's defense left the matter to the court's discretion.
The panel of judges then decided not to suspend the proceedings, instead granting the prosecutor's motion and requesting further documents to confirm Fishchenko's involvement in active combat and his inability to join hearings.
On August 13, having received a response from the military unit confirming that Fishchenko was indeed on the line of combat contact, the panel of judges ultimately decided to suspend the proceedings. The prosecutor again objected, arguing that the Ministry of Defense should be asked whether Fishchenko could be replaced at his combat position for the duration of the trial and whether he could join via secure video link, and that the accuracy of the information in the unit's response should be verified.
It is also worth noting that Yurchenko's questioning has concluded, and both parties have announced they are ready to proceed to closing arguments.
