One of the suspects in the case of the murder of journalist Pavlo Sheremet, doctor Yuliia Kuzmenko, said that the investigation will be launched from the very beginning in connection with the new selection of jurors.

According to her, two jurors could not fulfill their duties (travel abroad and mobilization). In addition, the motion to freeze the case for the period of martial law was not granted.

Instead, the court granted the request to change Yana Duhar’s preventive measure (from bail to personal obligations) and to return the funds collected as bail. These funds, as Kuzmenko informed, will be directed to the needs of the Armed Forces.

‘This process is one of the high-profile litmus tests for the state of our country’s law enforcement and judicial systems, and the result will show what we have, where and how’, Kuzmenko wrote.

Backstory

Pavel Sheremet died in Kyiv on July 20, 2016 in a car explosion.  The Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office stated the explosion was caused by a bomb and labelled the death of Sheremet a murder.

On December 12, 2019, at a briefing attended by Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka and President Volodymyr Zelensky, the then Interior Minister Arsen Avakov claimed Duhar, Kuzmenko and Antonenko to be suspects in the murder.