Kyiv adjourns Šaramiet murder trial, defendants on duty

January 25, Pozirk. A district court in Kyiv has adjourned the hearing in the criminal case in connection with the murder of prominent Belarusian journalist Pavieł Šaramiet, defense attorney Dmitry Krugovoy told Ukrinform.

All three defendants – Andriy Antonenko, Yana Dugar and Yuliya Kuzmenko – are Ukrainian nationals. Antonenko and Dugar are on active duty in the area of combat operations and cannot attend the hearings, the lawyer said. The court granted a motion to suspend the proceedings, he added.

In 2022, some of the jurors fled abroad due to war and some were drafted for military service, which also affected the hearings, Krogovoy noted.

Šaramiet, a prominent critic of Alaksandr Łukašenka, died in a car explosion in Kyiv in 2016.

In December 2019, Ukrainian investigators accused military doctor Kuzmenko, nurse Dugar and Antonenko, an army veteran, of assassinating the journalist. All three pleaded not guilty and said their persecution was politically motivated.

In early January 2021, Ihar Makar, a former Belarusian police officer, shared wiretaps with investigators, suggesting that the assassination had been ordered by Belarusian Committee for State Security (KGB) officers, including it chief, Vadzim Zajcaŭ.