The lawyer of the volunteer Demydenko denied the information about the initiation of a new case

The lawyer of the 61-year-old Belgorod volunteer Oleksandr Demydenko, who helped Ukrainian refugees cross the border when returning to their families, said that no criminal case under the article of treason was initiated against his client. Mediazona reports this with reference to lawyer Elena Palymova.

According to the lawyer, Demydenko and his lawyers are not aware of the initiation of any new criminal case. “There is no decision on the initiation of a criminal case. Perhaps there is some material for the investigation,” Palymova said.

Earlier, the “We can announce” project, with reference to the son of Oleksandr Demydenko, reported that a second criminal case had been initiated against the volunteer. He is allegedly accused of treason. Oleg Demydenko referred to a letter received from his father on November 16. After the publication of the article “We can explain”, Demydenko said that he was in a hurry and “did stupid things”. He claims that he wanted to give the materials to journalists as soon as possible, but asked not to publish them for a while.

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, 61-year-old Oleksandr Demydenko went to anti-war pickets and helped Ukrainian refugees to return to their families, drove them to the border, hosted them at home. Up to 900 people stayed in his house and had to spend the night somewhere – the border crossing was often closed due to shelling, Mediazona writes.

Demydenko went missing at the Russian checkpoint “Kolotylovka” in the Belgorod region on October 17. According to the volunteers, he brought an elderly woman to the border crossing, but two members of the Teroborona blocked his way to the parking lot. After that, the connection with him disappeared.

Three days later, police officers brought Demydenko home and conducted a search, during which they allegedly found a grenade and detonators from the 1940s.

On October 20, Alexander Demydenko was arrested for 10 days on an administrative charge of drinking alcoholic beverages. On October 31, he was released, but the next day he was again detained and arrested for 30 days. During the second administrative arrest, a criminal case was opened for the illegal transfer of weapons and he was placed in a pre-trial detention center.