Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi mayor allowed to be released from pre-trial detention center on bail

The Odesa Court of Appeal partially upheld the complaints of the lawyers of the mayor of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Vitaliy Hryzhdan, and allowed him to leave the pre-trial detention center.

As stated in the court's ruling, the mayor will be able to leave the pre-trial detention center if he posts bail in the amount of UAH 9 million 984 thousand.

At the same time, the court also granted the prosecutors' request to extend Vitaliy Grazhdan's stay in the pre-trial detention center until June 6, if the bail is not paid.

If the money is paid, Vitaliy Grazhdan will have to fulfill a number of conditions that are usual in this case:

• appear in court at every request;
• not to leave Odesa region without a court order;
• notify the court of any changes in his place of residence, place of work and contact numbers of his mobile phone;
• to submit for safekeeping to the Main Department of the SMS in Odesa region the passport(s) for traveling abroad and other documents entitling him to leave and enter Ukraine;
• refrain from communicating with the victim in this criminal proceeding regarding the circumstances of the criminal offense;
• wear an electronic monitoring device.

In March, the Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa refused to satisfy the motion of the lawyers of the mayor of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Vitalii Hryzhdan, and left him in custody.

The mayor was detained in July 2024. According to law enforcement, Grazhdan led a gang that tried to illegally seize a recreation center near the Black Sea coast in the village of Serhiivka, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi district. To do this, the defendants forced the owner to give up 50% of her corporate rights and then appointed their "own" director to look for buyers for the complex. When the buyers were found, they wanted to take away the remaining rights to the building.

Кирило Бойко