Kyiv’s Shevchenkivsky District Court has ruled to arrest former Foreign Minister of Ukraine Leonid Kozhara, who had been detained on suspicion of having murdered entrepreneur Serhiy Starytsky, with the possibility of posting a bail in the amount of Hr 14.8 million.
The court ruled to arrest Kozhara for 60 days, until May 25, 2020. This decision was announced on March 27.
Thus, the court satisfied a motion filed by the investigator, however it also granted the possibility to post a bail in the amount of Hr 14.830,400, which is 6,700 minimum wages. Either the suspect himself or any other person can put up bail.
If Kozhara is released on bail, he will be obliged to appear at investigative agencies when summoned, report his place of residence, surrender his travel documents and wear an electronic control device (electronic bracelet).
The court announced only the operative part of the judgment.
As reported, on February 21, 2020, a woman from the village of Chaiky, Kyiv region, called the police and reported that a man committed suicide. Later, it was reported that Starytsky was shot dead in Kozhara’s house. The preliminary version of the police was a suicide. The shot was fired from Kozhara’s Jericho 941 pistol.
Starytsky co-founded Atlantic Group in 1992. He managed the Inter television channel and headed the international communications department of the Ukrainian State Television and Radio Company.
On February 24, the National Police reported that they were probing into the death of entrepreneur Starytsky as a murder. The police found out that there were three people in the house: Kozhara with his wife and their guest. All of them drank alcohol. Kozhara’s wife said that she was in another room when the guest fired his head using her husband’s gun.
On March 25, Deputy Interior Minister of Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko said that Kozhara was detained on suspicion of murdering Starytsky.
