Suspect in Farion's murder granted security: what is known and whether he is testifying

Viacheslav Zinchenko, 18, a suspect in the murder of linguist and professor Iryna Farion, refused to testify and is under additional security. His lawyer, Ihor Sulyma, insists that there is no direct evidence of his client's involvement in the murder.

Sulyma said this in an interview with Ukrainian News. On July 31, it also became known that he had filed an appeal against the pre-trial restraint (arrest for 60 days without bail was imposed on him by the Halytskyi District Court of Lviv on July 26).

Sulyma called the evidence against the young man doubtful, while "in such cases, it should be ironclad."

"There is no gun, no belongings, nothing. As for the video footage, I think two different people are walking around. One walks like a goblin, sorry, like a monkey with waving arms, and the other like an ordinary person," the lawyer said. He also said that in Ukraine there is freedom of movement, and Zinchenko's trip to Lviv from his native Dnipro is allegedly connected with the fact that he completed a course on UAV control.

The detainee is not testifying, citing Article 63 of the Constitution. "He had such a right, and he used it," the lawyer noted.

He sees no direct evidence in this case. If Zinchenko says that he did not kill anyone, "I don't know what efforts the investigation should make to prove that he was the one who shot".

Sulyma pointed out that after Farion's murder, his client stayed in Lviv for two more days, and bought a train ticket home, although he could have hitchhiked or taken a BlaBlaCar. After arriving in Dnipro, he bought a gym membership. His family did not notice any changes in his behavior.

The lawyer refused to specify where Zinchenko is being held. But he is being held "in normal conditions" and does not complain. "Normal conditions, normal stay within the limits of what it can be," Sulyma said.

"He has already been given security. We applied and he was given it. But do not make hasty conclusions about him. Time will tell. I do not exclude that he did it, but I doubt it. If he is guilty, he will go to jail. If he is not guilty, I will get him acquitted. But there must be indisputable evidence of guilt. Maybe the investigation has such evidence, but they have not yet given it to us," the lawyer said at the end of the interview.

As reported by OBOZ.UA:

– 59-year-old lawyer Ihor Sulyma from Ivano-Frankivsk region previously appeared on the defense of traitors to Ukraine. His clients included Ruslan Kotsaba, a pro-Russian propagandist from Ukraine; Gennady Tsarev, a suspected collaborator; and Russian State Duma deputies Irina Filatova, Nikolay Kharitonov, Alexei Chepa, and Galina Khovanskaya.

– The mother of 18-year-old Viacheslav Zinchenko suggested that her son could have been an accomplice in the crime. According to her, he had no motives and no shooting experience.

– According to criminal expert Yurii Irkhin, the suspect in the murder of Iryna Farion could have been carefully prepared, as the killer acted almost professionally.

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