Today, a regular hearing took place at the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv in the case against former employee of the State Guard Administration Artem Kosov, accused of the intentional murder of the minor Maksym Materukhin at the upper station of the Kyiv funicular in April 2024.

The General Prosecutor Ruslan Kravchenko participated in the hearing, joining the group of prosecutors in this case, particularly in connection with the intentional delay of the trial by the defense.

At the beginning of the hearing, Ruslan Kravchenko made a motion to change the procedure for examining evidence and to interrogate the forensic expert regarding the mechanism of the bodily injuries found on the body of the minor Maksym Materukhin. The court granted the motion and interrogated the expert.

The expert, who was interrogated during the court session, confirmed his conclusion provided at the stage of the pre-trial investigation and revealed the method of inflicting bodily injuries on Maksym Materukhin.

The General Prosecutor noted that "the prosecution is satisfied with today's hearing in the case of the murder of Maksym Materukhin. This is the first and foremost. For more than a year, the process was deliberately delayed by the former lawyers of the accused. Today, the court was finally able to fully examine all the evidence," emphasized Ruslan Kravchenko.

The protection of children is one of the priority areas of work for the prosecution authorities, as defined by General Prosecutor Ruslan Kravchenko. Heads of regional prosecutor's offices and their deputies have been instructed to take personal part in cases of murders and rapes of children, as well as in other complex, high-profile proceedings involving crimes against children.

Currently, the heads of regional prosecutor's offices and their deputies are ensuring personal procedural leadership in 216 proceedings regarding intentional murders, rapes, and other serious crimes involving children. The heads of regional prosecutor's offices, as state prosecutors, personally participate in the court proceedings of 37 cases. So far, 4 guilty verdicts have already been issued with their participation.

In particular, the head of the Kyiv Regional Prosecutor's Office reported suspicion and took into custody a deputy of the Kozyn Village Council in the Obukhiv District of Kyiv Region, who, while driving under the influence of alcohol, hit a minor child.

The head of the Volyn Regional Prosecutor's Office reported suspicion regarding the repeated rapes of a 13-year-old daughter of a cohabitant.

The acting head of the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office reported suspicion against three residents of the capital for repeated sexual assaults against minor girls, the youngest of whom was only 8 years old.

The head of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office has sent an indictment to court against a 44-year-old man for the rape, with the use of violence, of a 13-year-old girl. The accused faces up to 15 years of imprisonment.