«Please understand and forgive me». The Mykolaiv Court has considered a plea agreement in the case of former MSEC employee Beliakova

A hearing was held at the Central District Court of Mykolaiv in the case of the former head of the regional medical and social examination centre, Vira Beliakova. The former official reached an agreement with the prosecutor, pleaded guilty and is asking the court to impose a suspended sentence.

A correspondent from NikVesti reports on the details of the hearing on 12 March.

It became known back in February that Vira Beliakova had agreed to a deal with the investigation. However, at that time, Mykhailo Lais, a prosecutor from the Specialised Prosecutor’s Office of the Southern Region, clarified that the agreement had not been approved in accordance with the proper procedural order.

At the hearing, the parties stated that they had reached a final agreement. Before the prosecutor spoke, lawyer Viacheslav Hrybonos submitted to the court receipts for the transfer of 4.7 million hryvnias to the account of one of the military units as a charitable donation.

The prosecutor then read out the indictment. According to the case file, one of the incidents concerns a conscript, a senior official at the Mykolaiv Regional Tax Office. The investigation alleges that, to avoid mobilisation, the Medical and Social Examination Commission (MSEC) issued him with a report on the basis of which he was classified as having a third-degree disability.

Judge Volodymyr Aleinikov asked whether Beliakova herself admitted her guilt. She agreed, despite having categorically denied it at the very first court hearing.

Volodymyr Aleinikov began to clarify exactly what her guilt was in this regard. In particular, whether she agreed that the MSEC’s report was unreliable.

The judge asked whether a specific diagnosis had been established for the conscript. However, Vira Beliakova replied that she did not recall this. During the hearing, the court also sought to clarify the circumstances surrounding the incident involving obstruction of the activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In addition, she is accused of providing false information in her 2023 declaration. In response to the court’s questioning, Vira Beliakova stated that at the time of filing the declaration, she believed her actions to be correct and did not realise she was required to record this information. Volodymyr Aleinikov asked whether she had eventually entered this information into the NACP register, but she replied that she had not yet done so.

This concerns cash assets amounting to nearly $48,000 found in her home, and a further $379,000.

Vira Beliakova also failed to declare property purchased by her mother for the former official’s son.

After clarifying the details, the judge asked prosecutor Mykhailo Lais to provide him with the documents so he could review the diagnosis. The court adjourned briefly for this purpose.

Having received the findings, the judge began to review and examine the documents. Later, he asked the prosecutor to find another of the rulings amongst the eight volumes of the case file. To which Mykhailo Lais asked Volodymyr Aleinikov to explain to the parties to the proceedings at which stage they had paused and why the court was not finally proceeding to consider the substance of the agreement.

After examining the case materials, the prosecutor did read out the terms of the plea bargain. Under its terms, Vira Beliakova is to be sentenced to imprisonment under several charges, but pursuant to Article 75, she may be released from serving her sentence with a probationary period to be determined by the court. Beliakova agreed to the terms as stated. The court gave her the final word:

The judge retired to the deliberation room to reach a decision.

The case of Vira Beliakova

In October 2024, it emerged that searches had been carried out at the premises of the head of the Medical and Social Expertise Commission (MSEC) in the Mykolaiv region. At the time, law enforcement officials stated that over $450,000 had been found in the possession of the acting chief medical officer of the institution, Vera Beliakova. Furthermore, a Russian Federation passport was found in her son’s possession. Later, NikVesti discovered that, in the proceedings regarding the searches at the head of the Mykolaiv MSEC’s premises, law enforcement had not yet detained anyone or announced any charges. The prosecution had merely requested that the court seize the property confiscated from Beliakova’s home.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Prosecutor General told journalists from «Slovo i Dilo» that the searches at Beliakova’s home were not conducted in connection with a corruption offence, but on the grounds of obstructing the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (Article 114-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

It should be noted that in March 2024, law enforcement officers in Mykolaiv uncovered a scheme involving the trade in fake certificates of unfitness for military service on health grounds. Among the five people detained at the time was Svitlana Biletska, deputy to Vira Belyakova at the Mykolaiv Regional Centre for Medical and Social Expertise (MSEK).

In May 2025, the Central District Court remanded the official in custody.

Following the situation involving searches and abuses by officials from various state bodies regarding the granting of disability status, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy convened a meeting of the National Security and Defence Council and signed a law on the abolition of medical and social expert commissions.