The son of the Mayor of Pryluky, suspected of drug trafficking, was released on bail and disappeared — the court left the preventive measure unchanged

The son of the Mayor of Pryluky, suspected of drug trafficking, was released on bail and disappeared — the court left the preventive measure unchanged

Released on bail and did not attend the court hearing. On July 24, at the Chernihiv Court of Appeal, an appeal of the mayor of Pryluky’s son, Olha Popenko — Yaroslav Popenko, was considered. The presiding judge of the Court of Appeal, Mykola Osedach, confirmed that bail had already been posted for Yaroslav Popenko. His current whereabouts are unknown, and he also did not attend the courtroom.

Yaroslav Popenko has no previous convictions. He works as the deputy director of the Pryluky Children’s and Youth Sports School. He was detained on July 16 under suspicion of systematic drug distribution. On July 18, the Pryluky City District Court decided on a preventive measure in the form of detention for two months with the right to post bail in the amount of 242,240 hryvnias.

At that time, the Suspilne film crew could not attend the hearing: due to an air raid warning, the court building was closed, and after the warning was lifted, journalists were not provided with any information about the session in the court.

On July 24, Yaroslav Popenko’s lawyer, Yuriy Zabalskyi, joined the meeting via video link. He petitioned for the cancellation of the preventive measure for his client.

"The defence considers that this criminal prosecution of my client, Yaroslav Popenko, is entirely fabricated, orchestrated on the orders of unknown forces with the aim of discrediting the authorities of the city of Pryluky, law enforcement agencies, the regional prosecutor’s office leadership, and representatives of organs of state power, namely people’s deputies."

The prosecutor, Anatoliy Sukhonos from Pryluky, also spoke via video link. He objected to the satisfaction of the appeal.

"The investigating judge reviewed all arguments regarding the validity of the suspicion and the qualification. Since there was drug distribution on the sports school premises, I request the denial of the appeal and the decision of the Pryluky City Court of July 18 to be left in force in its entirety."

The judges made a decision — to leave the preventive measure for Yaroslav Popenko unchanged. Recall that Yaroslav Popenko was involved in two traffic accidents in Pryluky while driving under the influence in 2016 and 2018.