Volodymyr Ruban to Remain in Custody Until July 2

Photo from Ukrinform–UATV

The Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv extended the arrest of Volodymyr Ruban, the head of the Officer Corps Center for the Release of Prisoners, to July 2, Radio Svoboda reported.

There is no possibility for bail.

The court session lasted about two hours. The prosecutor explained that Ruban may possibly escape if released. The court granted the motion of the prosecutor’s office to extend Ruban’s custody. Ruban’s defense team intends to appeal against the court’s decision.

Ruban was detained in March, when he was crossing the demarcation line in Donbas through a checkpoint. Heorgiy Tuka, deputy minister for temporarily occupied territories, said that Ruban was trying to bring in a whole arsenal of weapons, hidden in furniture.

Currently, he is suspected of conspiracy to commit a violent overthrow of the constitutional order, encroaching on the lives of state and public figures by prior agreement with a group of people, assisting the Donetsk People’s Republic, which is considerd a terrorist organization in Ukraine, and the illegal handling of weapons with prior agreement with a group of persons.

Ruban denies all the accusations.

From the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine in early 2014, the Officer Corps Center for the Release of Prisoners acted as the main mediating organization for prisoner swaps and worked to deliver aid to prisoners. That is, until the Joint Center for Hostage Release was established under the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in 2015. However, even then the Officer Corps did not stop operating. Instead, they started working illegally, bypassing the SBU.