Adnan Kivan — founder of KADORR Group corporation, owner of Kyiv Post and Odesa's 7th Channel, ranked 42nd in Forbes' 2021 ratings with a fortune of $240 million — died on October 27, 2024, in Odesa. From May of that year, he received treatment at the private Odrex clinic for cancer. Now two doctors from this clinic — surgeon Vitaly Rusakov and oncologist Marina Belotserkivska (already dismissed) — are sitting in the dock. However, a verdict is still far off.
What happened in court
At a subsequent preparatory hearing, the Kyiv District Court of Odesa was to consider the prosecutor's request to choose a preventive measure for the accused in the form of nighttime house arrest. According to the Criminal Procedure Code, such requests are considered no later than 72 hours after receipt. However, one of the lawyers failed to appear at the hearing.
To prevent formal violations of deadlines, the court engaged another lawyer through the free legal assistance system — to participate only in the consideration of this specific request. However, due to the absence of Belotserkivska's primary defense counsel, a full preparatory hearing could not be conducted. The consideration of preventive measure requests was postponed to Friday, writes UNN.
This is not the first such incident. As reported by sud.ua, the court previously satisfied Rusakov's defense request and transferred the proceedings to the Odesa Court of Appeal to decide on transferring the case to another court — and this happened precisely when the process was moving to the medical part: an independent oncology expert was to evaluate the doctors' actions.
The investigation's version: what exactly went wrong
Rusakov and Belotserkivska are charged under Part 1 of Article 140 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — improper performance of professional duties by a healthcare worker that could cause serious consequences for the patient. According to the investigation, after the surgery, Kivan may not have been prescribed necessary antibacterial therapy and the postoperative complications were not properly addressed. The expert examination concluded that the patient developed sepsis, which could have been the direct cause of death.
"Doctors may avoid criminal liability not through refuting evidence or proven innocence, but through the expiration of the statute of limitations".
sud.ua
The Office of the Prosecutor General, in turn, appealed to the Ministry of Health demanding an inspection of the clinic and demanding its license be revoked if violations are found. The ministry received a clinical expert assessment of the quality of medical care provided from the Health Department of the Odesa Regional State Administration.
Why time is already part of the strategy
Article 140 Part 1 of the Criminal Code provides for a three-year statute of limitations. The case has been transferred between courts, the process has essentially been restarted — and each postponement, each failure of a lawyer to appear reduces the time remaining until the moment when the proceedings can be closed regardless of the evidence.
- May–October 2024 — Kivan's treatment at Odrex
- October 27, 2024 — patient's death
- October 2024 — Office of the Prosecutor General confirms investigation, suspicion announced against two doctors
- 2025 — case transferred from Primorsky to Kyiv District Court of Odesa, proceedings restarted
- June 2025 — court again unable to consider the preventive measure request
One of the accused doctors, as reported by Daily News, publicly criticizes the court and presents his case as a systemic problem in medicine — not as a specific criminal proceeding with specific actions or inaction.
If the court fails to render a verdict before the three-year statute of limitations expires, the case may be closed — and then the question is not whether treatment protocols were violated, but whether the procedural clock will run out before the judge.
