Examination confirms authenticity of talks between Saakashvili and Kurchenko
A phonoscopic examination has confirmed the authenticity of the voices of the leader of the Movement of New Forces party and former Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, and fugitive Ukrainian businessman Serhiy Kurchenko, which were recorded by Ukrainian law enforcers, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) Larysa Sarhan has said.
"The Ukrainian Research Institute of Special Equipment and Judicial Examinations of the Security Service of Ukraine conducted a phonoscopic examination confirming the authenticity of voices on recorded conversations between Saakashvili and Kurchenko," she wrote on her Facebook page on Friday.
According to Sarhan, the words and phrases belong to Saakashvili and Kurchenko were personified in the protocol based on the results of a classified forensic examination.
"About 15 people who help Ukrainian law enforcement agencies document the criminal offenses of Saakashvili, Kurchenko, Dynnyk [former Brokbusinessbank Chairman Oleksandr Dynnyk], Dangadze [Saakashvili's teammate Severion Dangadze] were interrogated as witnesses and are under state protection," Sarhan said.
Later, PGO spokesperson Andriy Lysenko said live on the 112 Ukraine television channel that these audio recordings could be used during the judicial consideration when it begins.
"If the suspect's defense team insists, we are ready to attract foreign experts for additional examination, and we are fully confident that we have original, authentic records of conversations between Kurchenko and Saakashvili," he said.
When asked about 15 people questioned as witnesses and their protection, Lysenko said: "We understand that this is a very high-profile case, therefore people give testimony provided that they are protected by the state. They [testimony] will not be made public before the court decision."
At the same time, according to him, if the court wants to hear this testimony, then it is likely that this will be a closed hearing so as "not to reveal all the witnesses, because they are very important, we simply have no right to risk their lives."
Lysenko also noted that all testimonies of witnesses are "very valuable," they will be presented in court "as a weighty argument for the confirmation of a criminal proceedings" opened against Kurchenko and Saakashvili, as well as their accomplices.
As reported, on December 5, Saakashvili was detained, but his supporters blocked the police van and "freed" him. The politician was placed on the wanted list.
Saakashvili was detained again on December 8. The case on Saakashvili was opened pursuant to Part 2, Article 256 of the Criminal Code (assistance to participants of criminal organizations and concealment of their criminal activity), which envisages from five to ten years of imprisonment. After his arrest, he was taken to the SBU's detention center in Kyiv, where he went on a hunger strike.
On December 11, the court refused to grant the motion submitted by the prosecutor's office to choose a measure of round-the-clock house arrest to Saakashvili.
