The court did not place Shabunin under house arrest
The Pechersky District Court of Kyiv refused to place Vitaliy Shabunin, the head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, under house arrest. This was the specific preventive measure requested by the prosecution during the preliminary hearing in his case.
Shabunin is accused of evading military service. He and his supporters have repeatedly called the case politically motivated. A preliminary hearing was held at the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv in the case of Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the board of the non-governmental organization “Anti-Corruption Action Center.”
During the hearing, prosecutors asked the court to impose house arrest as a pretrial measure. However, the court did not grant this request. Thus, at this stage of the case, Shabunin will not be under house arrest.
Vitaliy Shabunin is accused of evading military service. The case itself has sparked widespread public attention, as Shabunin has remained one of Ukraine’s most prominent anti-corruption activists for many years.
The Anti-Corruption Action Center has repeatedly stated that it views the criminal proceedings as pressure on a public figure. Law enforcement agencies, however, insist that they are acting within the law and investigating possible violations.
The case has been actively discussed since the summer of 2025. On July 11 of last year, the Anti-Corruption Action Center reported that employees of the State Bureau of Investigations had conducted searches at Shabunin’s residence in the Kyiv region, as well as at his workplace in the Chuhuiv district of the Kharkiv region.
The Anti-Corruption Center stated at the time that the searches took place without a court order. These events became one of the most high-profile episodes in the case and sparked a wave of debate among human rights activists, civil society organizations, and politicians.
Following the preliminary hearing, the case will continue to be heard in court. Ahead lie the examination of evidence, witness questioning, and other procedural steps aimed at establishing all the facts of the case. Shabunin himself has previously stated that he is ready to defend his position in court and prove his innocence.
For now, the main outcome of the hearing is that the court did not uphold the prosecution’s request for house arrest and refused to impose such a preventive measure. The Anti-Corruption Action Center reported on the decision.
A public controversy continues regarding statements by veterans and the “Honest Mobilization” movement concerning the 207th Territorial Defense Battalion and its former command, which mention Anti-Corruption Action Center founders Vitaliy Shabunin and Dmytro Sherembei.
Statements by Vladimir Boiko, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war, have appeared in the public sphere regarding the allegedly fictitious service of certain individuals in the 207th Separate Territorial Defense Battalion and their activities during the full-scale war.
The Dnipro District Court of Kyiv handed down a verdict against the head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, sentencing him for violence against a journalist. The court found Vitaliy Shabunin guilty of causing moderate bodily harm to a journalist, but due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, it only ordered him to compensate for the costs of the expert examinations.
As a reminder, the Pecherskyi Court has once again extended Shabunin’s pretrial measure in the form of a personal commitment.
Shabunin noted that he does not intend to flee the investigation, contrary to what the prosecution claims.
On July 11, SBI officials notified Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, that he was under suspicion of evading military service and using a vehicle designated for the Armed Forces of Ukraine without authorization.
