On Friday, October 30 the Shevchenko district court of Kyiv passed the first judgment on five activists of the right-wing nationalist organizations "Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists" and "Trizub" named after Bandera who had broken off nose and left hand of the monument to Lenin on the Bessarabskaya square, the newspaper Kommersant-Ukraine reports.

The lawyer of the accused Sidor Kizin insisted that the actions of the defendants are not hooliganism. "In advance they made a record, in which they told about the motives of their actions”, Sidor Kizin proved. He also reminded the judge Cyril Kormushin about the decree of President Viktor Yushchenko on the dismantling of the monuments of the totalitarian past and claimed that the monument to Lenin had never been a monument of national significance.

Two defendants - Ivan Sribnyi and Bogdan Frant – do not acknowledge their guilt.

"I just went for a walk in the center at 04:00 a.m. and met my friends, and I was detained together with them", - Ivan Sribnyi told at the court meeting. Other activists - Mykola Kokhanovsky, Andriy Tarasenko and Oleksandr Zadorozhnyy - confirmed that they had taken part in the action, but noted that it was done due to ideological considerations.

The prosecutor did not agree with reasons of Sidor Kizin. "This is a pure hooliganism. The presidential decree really exists, but it does not mean that anyone can go and break monuments. In addition, during their actions they (the Nationalists - editor.) did not follow safety regulations," - said the public prosecutor. 

 “My defendants are not specialists to dismantle monuments, and if the prosecutor dissatisfied with non-compliance with safety regulations, he is to open the case on hooliganism, "- replied the lawyer.

Judge Cyril Kormushin exculpated defendants of damaging the monument of national significance. He explained his decision by a lack in the criminal case evidence that the monument is a monument of national significance. However, the judge upheld charges of hooliganism.