On November 19, 2024, the HACC decided to appoint a trial and end the preliminary proceedings in the case of attorney Oleksii Nosov, although the defense attorneys of the accused insisted on closing the proceedings.
During today's preparatory hearing, the defense filed a motion to close the proceedings as the pre-trial investigation period had allegedly expired. In addition, Nosov's defense attorneys asked for the return of the indictment. In their opinion, it did not comply with the legislation because the whistleblower was not specified in the document. The prosecutor opposed it since, in her opinion, there was no whistleblower in this case at all, according to the defined concept in the Law of Ukraine on Prevention of Corruption.
The court heard the arguments of the parties and refused to grant these motions. But even after that, the defense insisted on closing the proceedings and objected to the case being heard on the merits. In addition, according to the defense attorneys, the proceedings of the case should be closed, as the attorney-client privilege in Nosov's correspondence will be investigated.
Judge Moisak did appoint the case for an open hearing. But he noted that at the stages where attorney-client privilege will be considered, the hearing will be closed.
According to the defense, since no prosecutor has yet been questioned, this indicates that Nosov did not offer a bribe to the prosecutor; therefore, his case is not subject to the jurisdiction of the HACC, that is, the proceedings were referred to the court in violation of the rules of jurisdiction. In addition, they noted that the place of the alleged crime had not been determined.
Judge Moisak noted that he saw no reason to refer this case to another court and denied the appeal to the HACC AC. The defense believes that the Supreme Court must determine which court shall hear the case. In addition, the defense announced that it had already filed a motion to the Supreme Court to decide on a change of jurisdiction.
According to the prosecution, attorney Oleksii Nosov offered USD 200,000 in bribes to NABU and SAPO employees to transfer the case to another pre-trial investigation body. At that time, Nosov was working at the Miller law firm, from where he was dismissed after he was served with a suspicion notice by the NABU and the SAPO.