MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th March, 2019) The Supreme Court of Ukraine will hear on March 20 the complaint of RIA Novosti Ukraine portal head Kirill Vyshinsky against his arrest, and in the upcoming days he is expected to be transferred from Kherson, where he currently remains in custody, to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, Vyshinsky's lawyer Andriy Domansky told Sputnik on Saturday.
Ukrainian ombudswoman Lyudmila Denisova said on Tuesday that Vyshinsky would be transferred to a pre-trial detention center in Kiev on March 9, since on March 20 the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court of Ukraine was expected to consider the complaint by Vyshinsky about the illegality of his arrest.
"The hearing [is slated] for 10 a.m. [local time, 08:00 GMT] ... The transfer is most likely to start on [March] 9 or 10, and he must be in Kiev's court on March 20. I don't know when he will be transferred to Kiev and via which route. I'll be informed when he is already transferred to the Lukyanivska Prison [in Kiev], and then I'll be ready to visit him," Domansky said.
Vyshinsky, who recently turned 52, was detained in Kiev last May, on suspicion of treason and support for the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics. On February, the Kherson city court extended the journalist's arrest until April 8.
According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vyshinsky's arrest is politically motivated and demonstrates Ukrainian authorities' unacceptable policy, aimed at targeting journalists who are just doing their jobs.
Representative on Freedom of the Media of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Harlem Desir has expressed his concern over Ukraine's actions toward Vyshinsky and called for the journalist's release, stressing that all OSCE members had pledged to create the necessary conditions to allow journalists to work freely.
