Court refuses to suspend head of Kutsurub community Inna Kopiyka

The court rejected the dismissal of the head of the Kutsurub community, Inna Kopiyka , despite accusations of collaboration. The reason given was the absence of risks.

This is evidenced by the ruling of the Ochakiv City District Court of Mykolaiv Oblast.

In Ochakiv, the court denied the prosecutor's office's request to temporarily remove Inna Kopiyka, the village head of the Kutsurubska united territorial community, from office. The decision was made on November 17, it comes into force from the moment it is announced and is not subject to appeal.

The prosecutor's office asked the court to suspend Kopiyko for two months in the framework of criminal proceedings under Part 3 of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine related to the justification of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine. According to the prosecution, the chairman's tenure may affect the course of the investigation, including witnesses among her subordinates.

The official's defense counsel, referring to the witnesses already interrogated, denied the need for her removal. The accused herself supported the position of her lawyer.

The court found that there was no evidence in the case file of the head's negative influence on witnesses or obstruction of the investigation. The court found the prosecutor 's references to the possibility of re-interrogation of subordinates to be abstract and assumed.

The court also noted that the restriction of the right to work must have reasonable grounds, which in this case were not established. Therefore, the prosecutor's motion to remove Kopiyka from office was dismissed.

Inna Kopiyka has been the head of the Kutsurubska community since 2016, after being elected as part of the decentralization reform. Previously, she had twice headed the Kutsurub village council. It is also known that Kopiyka was the wife of a former deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council from the OPFL, Ihor Kopiyka.

Law enforcement officers exposed the official in October: according to the investigation, the 54-year-old head of the village council repeatedly justified Russia's war crimes at work and tried to discredit Ukraine's top military and political leaders. The SBU added that she called Russia's war against Ukraine an "internal civil conflict" and justified missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and the killing of civilians.

Анна Бальчінос