Ukrainian Security Service classifies former DPR anti-air commander case
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has classified the criminal case against former Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) anti-air defense commander Vladimir Tsemakh, the SBU said in response to an inquiry from the Ukrainski Novyny News Agency.
Previously it was reported from the Unified Registry of Court Rulings that the Shevchenkivskiy District Court of Kyiv had chosen on June 28, 2019 to hold Tsemakh in pretrial detention.
In its response to the inquiry, the SBU did not mention the reason for this decision. The security service also refused to specify where and when Tsemakh had been arrested, whether he has been placed under suspicion, or whether he has had a medical examination.
“The described circumstances are being investigated by the security organs’ investigators in a criminal case. According to the requirements of Art. 222 of the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine and Art. 387 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, other information concerning the pretrial investigation is not subject to disclosure at present,” the SBU stated.
At the end of June, the SBU arrested Tsemakh, the former head of the DPR militants’ anti-air brigade. National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Danylyuk said that Tsemakh has valuable information about Russia’s involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over the Donbas in 2014.
Tsemakh had been residing in the separatist-controlled city of Snizhne in Ukraine’s Donetsk province. The city lies 18 km from the Russian border.
The Ukrainian authorities have accused him of founding a terrorist organization, for which he could face 15 years in prison.
Tsemakh’s wife told the press that he had been knocked unconscious by two Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) agents while home alone and then taken into Kyiv-controlled territory. The SBU has not made any official comment on the incident.