The State Bureau of Investigation has found no evidence of former MP Vadym Novynskyy's involvement in the abduction and detention of Metropolitan Oleksandr (Drabynko) of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyy and Vyshneve with the aim of putting pressure on the then head of the UOC-MP Volodymyr (Sobodan) and has closed the case. The SBI informed Drabynko about the closure of the proceedings eight months later after the fact, the lawyer said.
"Based on the results of the pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings No. 42014000000000416 of 21 May 2014 on the grounds of criminal offences under Part 2 of Article 365, Part 2 of Article 146, Part 2 of Part 28, Part 1 of Article 147 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, where you are the victim, the investigator made a procedural decision and issued a resolution to close the criminal proceedings due to the absence of a criminal offence," the SBI said in the letter to Drabynko.
The resolution, which is available to LB.ua, states that the investigative and procedural actions "did not produce sufficient data to indicate Novynskyy's involvement in the commission of the above-mentioned crimes".
"There is no information that would indicate the presence of a direct intent in the actions of V.V. Novynskyy aimed at the illegal imprisonment of O.M. Drabynko in order to remove Metropolitan Volodymyr of Kyiv and All Ukraine (Sabodan V.M.) from the throne and appoint Metropolitan Antoniy (I.I. Pakanych) of Boryspil and Brovary to the throne," the SBI noted.
The case of Drabynko's abduction to put pressure on Metropolitan Volodymyr has been under investigation since 2014. In 2016, then Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko named Vadym Novynskyy as an accomplice in this crime and said that it was he who gave instructions to the former head of the Kyiv police, Valeriy Koryak, regarding the illegally detained Drabynko. At that time, parliament gave permission to lift Novynskyy's immunity for prosecution, but he remained a witness in the case.
Two years later, in 2018, Lutsenko said that only one more expert examination was left to be conducted in the Novynskyн case before it could be submitted to the court.
At the same time, the SBI's resolution states that in 2021, the SBI's Main Investigation Department had already closed the case due to "the absence of a criminal offence". However, in February 2022, the Prosecutor-General's Office cancelled the decision to close the proceedings.