MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2019) Kiev's appellate court has postponed to August 20 the hearing of the appeal that the defense team of the head of RIA Novosti Ukraine news portal, Kirill Vyshinsky, has made against a district court's decision to extend the defendant's detention, Vyshinsky's lawyer, Andriy Domansky told Sputnik on Tuesday.
Kiev's Podolsky district court extended on July 19 Vyshinsky's detention until September 19, with the next hearing scheduled for September 16.
"The hearing has been postponed to August 20, 11.00 a.m. [08:00 GMT]," Domansky said.
Vyshinsky was detained in Kiev on May 15, 2018, on suspicion of supporting the self-proclaimed republics in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region and treason. If convicted of the charges, the journalist faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. His arrest has been prolonged several times.
Russia has repeatedly said that Vyshinsky's arrest is politically motivated and demonstrates the former Ukrainian authorities' unacceptable policy of targeting journalists.
Harlem Desir, the representative on freedom of the media at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, has also expressed his concern over Ukraine's actions toward Vyshinsky and called for the journalist's release.
