UOJ journalist on his accusation: Bias and incompetence

Andriy Ovcharenko in court. Photo: UOJ

UOJ journalist Andriy Ovcharenko stated in court that he supports the prosecutor's recusal, as the prosecution demonstrates incompetence and bias.

"Bias, because at this stage, when the guilt of each participant in this process has not yet been proven, the prosecution calls journalists 'so-called journalists', 'enemies', 'assistants of the Kremlin, Putin', without providing any evidence for this," Ovcharenko said.

Also, according to him, there is no evidence for the two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Evidence of guilt under Article 255 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (creation of a criminal organization) could be proven negotiations with the customer and conscious consent to commit offenses. There is no evidence of such negotiations in the suspicion text or in the motion text.

"As for Article 111 (Treason), even the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Maliuk, in his book on collaboration during the state of war, says that the only evidence of a crime under this article can be proven cooperation with the Russian Federation. There is no evidence of this in the suspicion text or in the motion text. At each session, we and our defense attorneys raise this issue, but the group of prosecutors does not provide evidence. Instead, there is bias and conscious pressure on freedom of speech," concluded the UOJ journalist.

As reported by the UOJ, the court left the Orthodox journalists and priest in custody for another three months.

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