The HACCU ruling to cancel the preventive measure in the form of detention applied to former MP Dmytro Kriuchkov will force courts to more carefully substantiate the risks of absconding and return to more democratic preventive measures, says Olga Kukuyuk, attorney at Barristers.
“This ruling has become an important precedent for national court practice, as it emphasized the need for a more thorough approach to determining the validity of risks, in particular the risk of absconding. The HACCU made it clear that putting a person on the international wanted list cannot in itself be considered a sufficient ground to justify the application of a preventive measure in the form of detention,” she told Interfax-Ukraine.
The lawyer believes that “this decision was a significant step towards improving judicial practice in Ukraine, statistics for 2023 indicate serious problems in the system of making decisions on preventive measures.”
Kukuyuk provides statistics on court decisions on the application of preventive measures. Thus, in 2023, the HACCU AP considered 1182 cases, of which 999 concerned appeals against the decisions of investigating judges. Of these decisions, 132, or 13.2%, were overturned, which indicates a significant number of errors in the decisions of the first instance courts.
According to the lawyer, “the statistics emphasize the need to improve the quality of substantiation and thorough analysis of facts by investigating judges”.
“Insufficient attention to the details of the case or misinterpretation of the risks in cases can lead to unreasonable and disproportionate restriction of the rights and freedoms of suspects and defendants,” she said.
Kukuyuk also drew attention to the statistics of refusals to apply preventive measures: in 2023, the rate of refusals to apply preventive measures decreased to 5.9%, while in 2019 this figure was 23.8%.
“The downward trend in the number of refusals to apply measures of restraint is worrying. On the one hand, this may indicate a tougher approach on the part of judges when deciding on the application of a preventive measure. However, on the other hand, such indicators may indicate a tendency to restrict the rights of individuals through the unjustified application of preventive measures,” the lawyer believes.
In addition, Kukuyuk noted that the restriction of the right to cassation appeal against decisions of investigating judges on preventive measures further complicates the situation, as persons appealing against preventive measures in the vast majority of cases do not have the opportunity to verify the legality of decisions of higher court judges.
According to statistics for 2023, out of 128 cassation appeals filed against decisions of the HACC Appeals Chamber, 31.2% were rejected because they were not subject to cassation appeal.
“This fact indicates a restriction of access to justice for suspects and accused persons. At the same time, 4.6% of complaints were satisfied due to significant violations of the criminal procedural law, and 1.6% due to incorrect application of the law, which indicates the need to improve the quality of court decisions,” Kukuyuk said.
“From my own experience, I consider it necessary to add that the practice of the HACCU AP does not have a single approach to determining the procedural consequences of putting a person on the international wanted list for criminal proceedings in the context of establishing the fact of hiding a person from pre-trial investigation and court,” the lawyer said.
Kukuyuk emphasized that the prosecution in each case must prove with proper evidence that the suspect is evading investigation or trial, “however, the HACCU has repeatedly ignored the conclusion of the higher court.”
“In general, the decision of the HACCU to cancel the preventive measure in the case of Dmytro Kriuchkov is a positive signal for the Ukrainian judicial system about the need to improve law enforcement practice, ensure the rights and freedoms of citizens and minimize possible abuses in criminal proceedings,” the lawyer emphasized.
As reported in October 2020, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) completed an investigation into the suspected abuse of power by the acting chairman of the board of Cherkasyoblenergo (Svitlana Kuzminska and Oleksii Bezpalyi), acting CEO of Zaporizhzhiaoblenergo (Ihor Kornilenkov) and chairman of the board of Energomerezha (Dmytro Kriuchkov). Kriuchkov is involved in the case of misappropriation of UAH 346 million from Zaporizhzhiaoblenergo, where more than 60% of the shares belong to the state.
Source: https://interfax.com.ua/news/general/1027439.html
In January-October 2024, Ukrgasvydobuvannya JSC and Ukrnafta PJSC increased commercial gas production by 6% compared to the same period last year, up to 12.3 bcm, according to the website of Naftogaz of Ukraine.
“Despite the hostilities, our specialists continue to drill new wells and steadily increase gas production. We are doing everything possible to ensure that Ukrainians can continue to use their own fuel during the heating season,” said Naftogaz CEO Oleksiy Chernyshov.
As reported, the consolidated quarterly report of Naftogaz forecasts that the group’s commercial gas production in 2024 will amount to 14.6 billion cubic meters. In February, Chernyshov noted that the group’s goal for this year is to get closer to 15 bcm of production.
Revenues of Ukraine’s largest mobile operator Kyivstar increased by 4.7% to UAH 26.86 billion in January-September 2024, while in dollars they decreased by 4% to USD 674 million, the parent company VEON reported on Thursday.
For 9 months of 2024, the company reduced EBITDA by 2.6% to UAH 15.13 billion, and EBITDA margin by 4.2 percentage points to 56.4%.
In July-September, the operator’s revenue increased by 17.9% to UAH 10.25 billion, and by 4.8% to USD 250 million in terms of revenue in dollars. In the third quarter, the operator increased its EBITDA by 6.9% to UAH 5.92 billion, while reducing its EBITDA margin by 5.9 percentage points to 57.7%.
“Kyivstar’s revenue and EBITDA in the third quarter demonstrated strong growth, ensuring resilience and continuity despite a number of challenges, including power outages,” VEON said on its website.
Kyivstar’s capital investments in the third quarter increased by 62.5% to UAH 2.62 billion. Overall, since the beginning of the year, capital investments have increased by 57.5% to UAH 5.97 billion. The operator reportedly increased investments in sustainable communications for Ukraine and further development of 4G.
In addition, Kyivstar has deployed 2.3 thousand generators and 124 thousand batteries in Ukraine, which can ensure autonomous operation of base stations without power for four hours. In addition, Kyivstar installed more than 300 4G base stations in July-September as part of its 4G Everywhere program.
The number of Kyivstar 4G users grew by 4.3% to 15.3 million in the third quarter, accounting for 65.4% of the total subscriber base, up 4.8% year-on-year.
At the same time, Kyivstar’s mobile subscriber base decreased by 3.3% year-on-year to 23.3 million in the third quarter. The subscriber base was affected by the number of Ukrainians living outside Ukraine, the company said in a statement.
In the third quarter, the parent company VEON demonstrated a strong revenue growth of 9.8% year-on-year to $1.038 billion. EBITDA reached $438 million, down 1.5% year-on-year. The company’s investments in the third quarter increased by 51.2% to $198 million.
The total amount of cash and cash equivalents as of September 30, 2024 was $1,019 million (including $143 million related to banking operations in Pakistan and less $211 million in Ukrainian sovereign bonds classified as investments), of which $453 million was kept at the headquarters level.
Nibulon JV LLC, one of the largest grain market operators in Ukraine, has completed the sowing campaign of winter crops on 16.1 thou hectares, the grain trader’s press service reported on its Facebook page.
According to the report, Nibulon planted 8.6 thou hectares of winter wheat and 7.5 thou hectares of winter rapeseed. These crops are mainly concentrated in Mykolaiv region. According to the development strategy for the agricultural sector in 2024, the area under rapeseed has almost tripled, while winter wheat has decreased by 20% compared to the previous year.
The expansion of rapeseed acreage is due to the high profitability of this crop, which makes it economically attractive even in a changing climate, the agricultural holding explained.
Nibulon noted that in the 2024 season, the agricultural division of the agricultural holding had to take into account unfavorable weather conditions and adjust its work: for the second year in a row, sowing was carried out in dry soil, and the seeds were “preserved” in anticipation of favorable weather.
“In such circumstances, there are risks of provocative precipitation that causes seed germination but is insufficient for plant development and can lead to its death. Thus, we lost and had to reseed part of the rapeseed. But despite these circumstances, the vast majority of seedlings survived, developed and are going into winter in a satisfactory and good condition,” said Oleg Veselov, Director of Agricultural Production at the agricultural holding.
According to him, the situation was resolved by the company’s water-saving tillage technologies, which improved the quality and economy of crops even in conditions of drought and limited access to moisture.
Nibulon JV LLC was established in 1991. Prior to the Russian military invasion, the grain trader had 27 transshipment terminals and crop reception complexes, capacity for simultaneous storage of 2.25 million tons of agricultural products, a fleet of 83 vessels (including 23 tugs), and owned the Mykolaiv Shipyard.
“Before the war, Nibulon cultivated 82 thousand hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to more than 70 countries. In 2021, the grain trader exported the highest ever volume of 5.64 million tons of agricultural products, reaching record volumes of supplies to foreign markets in August – 0.7 million tons, in the fourth quarter – 1.88 million tons, and in the second half of the year – 3.71 million tons.
Nibulon’s losses due to Russia’s full-scale military invasion in 2022 exceeded $416 million.
Currently, the grain trader is operating at 32% of capacity, has created a special unit to clear agricultural land of mines, and was forced to move its headquarters from Mykolaiv to Kyiv.
In January-October this year, Ukraine increased imports of aluminum ore and concentrate (bauxite) in physical terms by 46.8% compared to the same period last year, up to 19,842 thousand tons.
According to the statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), bauxite imports in monetary terms increased by 50.9% to $2.681 million during this period.
The imports came mainly from Turkey (70.31% of supplies in monetary terms), China (26.67%) and Spain (2.91%).
Ukraine did not re-export bauxite in the same period of this year as in January-October 2023.
As reported, in 2022, Ukraine reduced imports of aluminum ore and concentrate (bauxite) in physical terms by 81.5% compared to the previous year – to 945.396 thousand tons. Imports of bauxite in monetary terms decreased by 79.6% to $48.166 million. Imports were mainly from Guinea (58.90% of supplies in monetary terms), Brazil (27.19%) and Ghana (7.48%).
In 2023, Ukraine imported 19,830 thousand tons of bauxite worth $2,360 million.
Bauxite is an aluminum ore used as a raw material to produce alumina, which is used to make aluminum. They are also used as fluxes in ferrous metallurgy.
Mykolaiv Alumina Plant (MAP) imports bauxite to Ukraine.
American Holtec International has invited Energoatom specialists to join the project team that will work on the deployment of the SMR-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at the Palisades NPP site in the United States.
This was announced by Energoatom with reference to Holtec President and CEO Chris Singh on its Telegram channel on Wednesday.
“Participation of Energoatom representatives at the stages of construction, testing and commissioning of SMR at the Palisades NPP site (USA) will allow the company to gain experience for further implementation of this technology in Ukraine,” the NNEGC noted.
According to Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin, the invitation of the company’s specialists to the Holtec project team is another evidence of the high confidence in Ukraine and Energoatom from strategic partners.
“We are pleased to receive this invitation, which demonstrates not only support in this difficult time for the country, but also recognizes the high professionalism and competence of our nuclear scientists,” he emphasized.
Earlier, Holtec received a $1.52 billion loan from the US Department of Energy to restart the Palisades NPP, with two SMR-300 reactors planned to be deployed at the plant.
As reported, Energoatom and Holtec have implemented a project for the construction and commissioning of the Centralized Spent Fuel Storage Facility in Ukraine (CSFSF).
The companies also reached an agreement on the implementation of two large-scale projects in Ukraine: the construction of a plant for the production of SMR components and the construction of a plant for the production of components for the Centralized SFSF, which have been produced in the United States until now.
