March 1, 2026, 4:59 p.m.
(Detention of a citizen. PHOTO: Dumskaya)
The Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa refused to satisfy the petition of the lawyers of the mayor of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Vitaliy Hryzhdan, and left him in custody.
According to the Center for Public Investigations, this was stated in the court's ruling.
His detention was extended for 60 days. The amount of bail was not set. Thus, the term of detention for Vitaliy Grazhdan will expire on April 21, 2026, as well as the term of removal from office.
The last time the court extended the measure of restraint was in January 2026, and before that in October 2025 and August. In December 2024, the Kyiv District Court of Odesa granted the investigator's motion and extended the preventive measure in the form of detention and removal from office for the mayor of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi , Vitaliy Hryzhdan. The mayor was detained in July 2024.
It should be noted that this is not the first detention of Vitaliy Hryzhdan by the SBU. In October 2022, the mayor of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Vitaliy Grazhdan, complained about being beaten by SBU special forces in his office.
At the time, the SBU commented on the incident, saying that the mayor had provoked the fight himself, so law enforcement officers were forced to handcuff him. He was then suspected of hooliganism and violation of the laws and customs of war.
Subsequently, the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office opened two proceedings over the incident, but the then-head of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office, Serhii Kostenko, said that the search was part of a proceeding into possible financial fraud.
In April 2024, Vitaliy Grazhdan found himself at the epicenter of a scandal involving his beating of a young man. He claimed that the man had threatened to kill the mayor in response to his remarks.
In July 2022, Vitaliy Grazhdan was hospitalized after a fight with the then chairman of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi District Council, Hryhoriy Melnychenko. Vitaliy Grazhdan said that the conflict arose over real estate.
Кирило Бойко