Property of Ukrainian parliamentarian Medvedchuk found during search seized

MOSCOW. June 22 (Interfax) - The Lychakivskyi District Court of Lviv has ordered the seizure of 279 paintings, dinnerware and a railway dining car found during the June 7 search of premises owned by Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada member Viktor Medvedchuk, who is charged with high treason.

"On June 17, 2022, an investigating judge granted a motion lodged by the prosecutor general to seize the property owned by suspect Medvedchuk found during a search on June 7, 2022, in the house and on the plot of land he owns on the basis of the right to private property," the court's website said in a statement published on Wednesday.

According to the statement, 279 paintings, four figurines, ten watches, five cups, 31 boxes of dinnerware, and a railway dining car containing furniture, interior decorations and dinnerware, were seized.

According to the statement published on the social media account of the Lychakivskyi District Court of Lviv, the court earlier extended the period of Medvedchuk's detention until August 9.

"An investigating judge of the Lychakivskyi District Court of Lviv granted a motion lodged by a prosecutor of the Prosecutor General's Office and extended the period of arrest without bail of Medvedchuk Viktor Vladimirovich for 60 days until August 9, 2022," the court said.

During consideration of the motion, the suspect's defense attorney applied to the Supreme Court seeking to transfer this motion to consideration by the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv, but was rejected, the court said.

Medvedchuk's indictment in the case of treason and attempting to pillage the national resources of Ukraine was forwarded to court on June 2. The essence of the charges brought against Medvedchuk is that he and another member of parliament representing the same party, who is currently on the wanted list, acting together with Russian officials, "attempted to plunder national assets," the investigators said, specifying that illegal extraction of oil and gas on the Black Sea shelf near Crimea is the issue in question.

According to Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, investigators collected considerable proof of Medvedchuk's guilt in the case of treason and attempting to pillage national resources, while other cases against him are still being investigated.