Today, the HACC was scheduled to begin a preparatory hearing in the case of Eduard Bagdasarian, former First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, one of the defendants in a case concerning an attempt to seize an 8-hectare land plot in Kyiv. However, the defendant did not appear in court.

According to the prosecutor, the hearing could proceed in absentia, as a special pre-trial investigation had been conducted against Bagdasarian.

The defense, in turn, requested to postpone the session, arguing that the defendant had not been properly summoned to court, which allegedly explained his absence. The defense also noted that, according to the latest information, Bagdasarian resides in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

The court decided to postpone the hearing and ordered that the defendant be notified of the next session at all known addresses, including those provided by the defense.

The case concerns 8 hectares of state-owned land in Kyiv, where the state enterprise Derzhbudkombinat was located. According to the investigation, MP Dmytro Isaienko conspired with Eduard Bagdasarian, under whose supervision the enterprise operated at the time, to appropriate the land for development. The attempt was thwarted by law enforcement through the imposition of an asset seizure, preventing losses estimated at UAH 331 million.

In 2024, Yurlov, then director of Derzhbudkombinat, entered into a plea agreement after admitting to assisting in the transfer of the land for development at an undervalued price. The trial continues for Dmytro Isaienko and Oleh Dynola, an adviser to the enterprise’s director.