Ochakiv Court denies prosecutors’ request to suspend the head of Kutsurub suspected of justifying the war

The Ochakiv District Court refused the Mykolaiv District Prosecutor's Office's request to remove the head of the Kutsurub community, Inna Kopiika, who is suspected of justifying the war, from office.

The court made the decision on 17 November, according to NikVesti.

As you know, in April, the court removed her from office.

The prosecutor's office filed a motion to suspend the official for two months. According to the prosecution, the chairman's stay in office could affect the course of the pre-trial investigation.

The motion states that the incriminated actions took place directly during the performance of the accused's official duties. The prosecutor's office also points to the risk of witnesses being influenced. Several employees of the Kutsurub village council, who are directly subordinate to the head, have not yet been questioned by the court or may be questioned again.

Instead, the defendant's counsel said that all the subordinate witnesses had already been interrogated and testified. On this basis, the defence requested that the motion be dismissed, and the defendant herself supported the position of her counsel.

However, the court, having heard the parties, concluded that the prosecutor had not proved the existence of circumstances that would require the removal of Inna Kopiika.

In particular, as stated in the ruling, there is no evidence of any negative influence of the accused on witnesses or other aspects in the case file, and the court found the prosecution's arguments regarding the risks of repeated interrogation to be abstract and based on assumptions.

The court also stressed that the right to work, guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine, can only be restricted if there are sufficient grounds, which were not established in this case.

As a result, the court dismissed the prosecutor's motion for dismissal.

The case of Inna Kopiika

It is worth recalling that it is the Kutsurub community that is under attack by the Russian army almost every day. Most often, villages are shelled with FPV drones, artillery and Shahed 131/136 UAVs from the occupied Kinburn Peninsula.

Inna Kopiika was elected as the head of the community in the 2016 elections following the decentralisation reform. Before that, she had twice headed the Kutsurub village council.

It is also worth noting that Inna Kopiika is the ex-wife of Ihor Kopiika, a former councillor from Mykolaiv and a former member of now-banned Opposition Bloc party. In 2018, Nikcenter journalists wrote in an investigation that budget money in Kutsurub was being used to spend money «by the right» contractors.

The detention of Inna Kopiika became known on 15 October. Law enforcement officers released a recording of a conversation between the head of the Kutsurub community, Inna Kopiika, and her subordinates. In it, the woman rejoices at the possible Russian occupation and accuses Ukraine of shelling Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson.

On 18 October, the court imposed a pre-trial restraint in the form of detention with the possibility of bail on the detained head of the Kutsurub community, Inna Kopiika. She was later released on bail.

On 24 October, the Court of Appeal considered the appeal of the prosecutor of the Mykolaiv District Prosecutor's Office against the decision on the preventive measure for Inna Kopiika. However, following the review, the Court of Appeal upheld the investigating judge's ruling.