Judge in Odesa sabotage case quarrels with lawyer and prosecutor

The Khadzhybeyskyi District Court of Odesa has taken another break in the consideration of the case of Artem Bordunov, a citizen of Ukraine and Russia, who is accused of illegal possession of ammunition, sabotage and treason.

The case has been heard for more than a year, and only at the end of January 2026 did the court proceedings begin to consider the merits, the NGO Media Initiative for Human Rights reported.

According to the investigation, he lived in Russia for a long time, kept in touch with representatives of the Russian special services, and in 2022 returned to Ukraine on their instructions. The man himself does not agree with the charges and does not admit guilt.

Right at the beginning of the hearing, a dispute arose between the prosecutor and the judges, as the prosecutor said that he had to leave early because he had another hearing in an hour. The judges noted that the hearing in the case of Arteb Bordunov was scheduled for an hour and the prosecutor should have taken this into account.

Eventually, when they started considering the case, they found out that on March 12, the prosecutor asked to attach the car search report of April 25, 2024, as well as an appendix to the report with a 10-minute video recording. Artem Bordunov's lawyer stated that she wanted to watch the video. This is because she took over the representation of the accused last summer, after he had abandoned his previous lawyer. All the materials had already been sent to the court, so the defense lawyer could not watch the video.

The judge's assistant turned on the recording, but while watching it, the judges noticed that the defendant's lawyer was on the phone and asked the assistant to pause the recording. The lawyer explained that yesterday she had received a call from the prosecutor in another case. He said that at 14:30 he would file a motion to release the person from criminal liability. The case concerns the unauthorized abandonment of the unit. The judges were outraged by this - Judge Dmytro Perederko reprimanded the lawyer for contempt of court.

"The prosecutor needs to go to another hearing, the lawyer needs to go to another hearing, the accused has been in custody for a long time. No one cares about this at all: neither the defense counsel nor the prosecutor. The three members of the panel spent their time getting together. I have a lot of work to do. Now I am also on duty," the judge was indignant.

In the end, the lawyer asked for a break in the meeting. The next hearing was scheduled for March 24.

Artem Bordunov was detained in the spring of 2023. The investigation found out that he had illegally purchased two cases of F-1 hand grenades, two fuses and brought them to his apartment. Investigators from the Security Service Department in Odesa region searched the apartment on April 25 of that year and seized the grenades. Also, according to the investigation, on March 12, 2024, a man poured gasoline on a relay cabinet on the territory of Ukrzaliznytsia in the Khadzhybey district of the city and set it on fire.

Кирило Бойко