Over 21 months — that's how long Vyacheslav Zinchenko has been in custody in the case of the murder of linguist Iryna Farion. During this time, the Shevchenko District Court of Lviv has held dozens of hearings, most of which ended in postponements. However, the Lviv Regional Prosecutor's Office, in response to an information request from LIGA.net, refused to assess the duration of the proceedings and the actions of the defense.
Chronicle of Delays
The list of reasons for postponements constitutes a separate genre. Zinchenko's lawyer Volodymyr Voronyak regularly submits medical certificates, and, as the prosecutor noted directly in the courtroom, "with each hearing the medical certificate continues." In April 2025, the hearing was disrupted twice due to the defendant's poor health — first due to "alleged poisoning," then due to "a cold from the cold in the detention facility."
In March 2026, Zinchenko announced a hunger strike — over the disappearance of a "Swedish wall" from the pre-trial detention facility. And on April 22, 2026, he threw his t-shirt onto the cell bars right during the court hearing, attempting, according to eyewitness accounts, to harm himself. Zinchenko was stopped by the National Guard, after which he apparently lost consciousness. The defendant himself later explained that this was a "form of protest," not a genuine attempt.
On April 24, 2026, when court arguments finally began, Zinchenko refused to work with both lawyers. The court announced a recess — this time until May 1.
What the Prosecutor's Office Says — and What It Doesn't
The Lviv Regional Prosecutor's Office's response to LIGA.net's request amounts to a procedural position: assessing the "reasonableness of the deadline" for proceedings is not their function. The office also does not comment on incidents involving "attempted suicide" and defense complaints about threats in the detention facility.
"It seems that something is indeed happening in the detention facility. For unclear reasons, cellmates are being replaced with new ones, direct threats are being made"
— lawyer Yuri Nemirovsky, April 2025, from a petition to the court
The court accepted this petition for consideration, but no public results of the investigation have been published.
What the Victims' Side Says
Iryna Farion's daughter Sofiya Osoba makes no secret of her position. She publicly called the defense's actions systematic obstruction and stated this directly in the courtroom. At the April 2025 hearing, she came, missing a church service on her mother's birthday — and the hearing was postponed anyway.
Meanwhile, Zinchenko's lawyers insist on resuming pre-trial investigation — essentially attempting to return the case to the previous stage after the indictment has already been submitted to court.
Context: What Has Been Established
- Zinchenko is charged with willful murder motivated by national intolerance and illegal possession of weapons — carrying a sentence of life imprisonment.
- In August 2025, the court heard a recording of a conversation between Zinchenko and a cellmate in which the defendant said he committed the crime due to personal animosity — not for ideological reasons.
- Farion was shot on July 19, 2024, near her home in Lviv. Zinchenko was arrested six days later in Dnipro.
The question posed by this trial extends beyond a single case: if the prosecutor's office does not publicly respond to signs of procedural abuse, who and at what point should do so — and does Ukrainian procedural law provide real sanctions for systematic non-appearance of the defense?
