On August 12, 2025, the High Anti-Corruption Court granted the request of the former head of the State Fiscal Service, Roman Nasirov, to postpone the court hearing because his defense lawyer did not arrive. Nasirov asked to hold the hearing from August 25 because he cannot represent himself without his defense attorney.
Defense attorney Kostiantyn Doroshenko explained in writing that he could not arrive in court — neither on the day of, nor for the future five scheduled hearings due to holidays, other scheduled hearings, and a business trip to Kremenchuk. The panel of judges found these were not good reasons for absence.
The day before, a notification came in about the termination of powers of Nasirov’s other defense attorney, Yuliia Shvets, because she moved abroad.
The prosecutor objected to the postponement because Nasirov had to prepare his presentation with his defense attorney in advance.
The panel of judges agreed with this. In addition, Nasirov is charged with a crime that is not considered particularly grave, and therefore the participation of a defense attorney is not mandatory. However, Nasirov still insisted on the postponement, claiming he was in need of legal assistance during his presentation. The judges eventually gave Nasirov time to coordinate his position with his defense attorney, but only until August 25.
The case is currently at the stage of court debates, one of the final stages of the trial. At the previous hearing, which took place back in June 2025, Nasirov started his final presentation and explained it was going to take place over 5 hearings.
We remind you that the statute of limitations in this case expires in April 2026. The defense also tried to terminate this case in April 2025 due to Nasirov’s mobilization into the army. He is charged with involvement in Onyshchenko’s “gas case,” where he issued an illegal order to postpone rent payments for the use of subsoil for extraction, and with evasion of tax debt. The state suffered about UAH 2 billion in losses.