Authorities launch prosecution of MP Fedyna for allegedly threatening president

The State Bureau of Investigations (DBR) submitted on
Nov. 26 a draft notice of suspicion to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine
against MP Sofiya Fefyna of the European Solidarity party for making an online
threat calling for the murder of President Zelensky. The draft also includes a
request for parliament to strip Fedyna of her political immunity to allow for
her criminal prosecution.

In response, Fedyna accused Zelensky of looking the
other way to numerous crimes alleged against MPs in The People’s Servant
parliamentary faction, including one of its MPs convicted of rape, another
ordering a prostitute in the session hall and the distribution of off-the-books
payments in envelopes, among other offenses. “It’s up to you to decide in what
kind of country we will live in,” she told the public in a Nov. 26 Facebook
post.

Fedyna made her scandalous comments during an Oct. 26
livestream, broadcast on YouTube and Facebook, attacking Zelensky for his
conduct during his visit to the warfront, as well as his plans for peace (what
she and her allies consider to be capitulation). Sitting alongside Donbas war
veteran Maria Zvirobiy, Fedyna said of Zelensky, “A grenade can detonate there
randomly. Shootings occur absolutely randomly. Honestly, it would be the nicest
if all this occurred during Moscow’s shootings, when someone in a light blue or
white shirt again makes his way to the front.”

Zenon Zawada: This
convocation of parliament has scores of young, rookie politicians, many of whom
don’t have experience in conducting themselves in public and online. Although
Fedyna’s comments were reckless and offensive, they were not a direct threat
with a deliberate intent. This incident further confirms the DBR is working
hand in glove with the President’s Office. And this attempt to prosecute Fedyna
(or at least intimidate her) is the latest incident in which Zelensky has shown
himself to be insecure in his role as president and highly defensive against
criticism.

This move against Fedyna is also part of the campaign
to rally the public around Zelensky’s plans for peace in Donbas (what his
opponents characterize as capitulation) against those opposed, demonizing them
as dangerous extremists. It remains to be seen whether this tactic will work.
But if Fedyna is prosecuted, it should only be alongside a series of other
politicians already targeted. Otherwise, it will be considered to be political
persecution against the pro-Western opposition.