Ukraine's court releases Russia-friendly lawmaker to house arrest after nearly 3 years in custody
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The Shevchenko District Court of Kyiv on April 16 eased the preventive measure for Nestor Shufrych, lawmaker suspected of treason, changing it from pre-trial detention to round-the-clock house arrest.
Shufrych's lawyer, Valerii Buniak, told Suspilne the court approved a defense motion to change the measure. The ruling can't be appealed.
The lawmaker will be obliged to wear an electronic bracelet, barred from communicating with other suspects, and must hand in his foreign passports.
The court's decision marks a rare case of a Ukrainian lawmaker suspected of treason and cooperation with Russia being released from custody.
Shufrych was arrested in 2023 on treason charges and later accused of financing Russia's National Guard in occupied Crimea to protect his real estate on the peninsula. Shufrych has denied the allegations.
During searches at Shufrych's premises, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) found Soviet symbols banned in Ukraine, as well as medals of the Russian Armed Forces. According to investigators, the lawmaker also cooperated with Volodymyr Sivkovych, a fugitive former deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council who is alleged to be working with Russian intelligence and overseeing an agent network in Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed sanctions on both men.
The Prosecutor General's Office said it objected to easing the preventive measure for Shufrych and argued for his continued pre-trial detention.
"The risks identified in this criminal proceeding have not lost their relevance. That is why prosecutors insisted on the continued defendant's detention," the statement read.
Discussions about the potential release of Shufrych from custody emerged this winter. After over two years in detention, the Kyiv Court of Appeal in January set bail at over Hr 33 million ($755,000) as an alternative to pre-trial detention.
The lawyer said Shufrych's family raised the money, but the bank couldn't transfer it due to sanctions on the lawmaker.
Throughout his political career, Shufrych was a member of pro-Russian parties, including the Party of Regions led by ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. In 2019, he was elected to parliament for the Opposition Platform — For Life, which was banned after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
