Special prosecutor of Yanukovych-era, EuroMaidan crimes dismissed

Serhiy Horbatiuk,
the special prosecutor to investigate the crimes of the Yanukovych
administration, was dismissed on Oct. 23 with a decree signed by Prosecutor
General Ruslan Riaboshapka. Horbatiuk told the pravda.com.ua news site that he
declined to undergo the recertification procedure that is being required of all
prosecutors, which likely was the official reason for his dismissal. But he
argued that is a mere pretext since the entire recertification procedure is
illegal, as well as his dismissal.

In an interview
later that day with Radio NV, Horbatiuk alleged that Riaboshapka doesn’t agree
with his conclusion that former President Yanukovych led a criminal
organization. Riaboshapka allegedly told him that was “fiction” invented by his
predecessor Yuriy Lutsenko. The Prosecutor General won’t prosecute the crimes
committed by the Yanukovych administration because individuals in the current
government were serving in the Cabinet at that time, Horbatiuk said, likely
referring to President’s Office Head Andriy Bohdan.

“I said, ‘If you
want to not see the signs of a criminal organization, and you believe this is
some fiction – please, here are 5,000 volumes, read them, write up the evidence
and issue a resolution to close the criminal case’,” Horbatiuk said during the
interview.

Zenon Zawada: A consistent pattern of events
indicates that the Zelensky administration won’t prosecute any Yanukovych
administration officials, particularly its crimes related to the EuroMaidan
protest. Moreover, we believe evidence is surfacing that Riaboshapka will fully
prosecute only a few select members of the Poroshenko administration, if any.
Only a handful of officials have been arrested, but we are beginning to doubt
that they will be prosecuted in a real court trial, let alone convicted. If
that’s the case, few members of the public – whether average Ukrainians or
international investors – will be convinced that rule of law is improving in
Ukraine, regardless of how many lie detector tests are conducted in parliament.
For us to be convinced, the highest officials must be subject to the same laws
and punishment as the poorest citizen.