Court refuses to detain Poroshenko, recognizes him as suspect in treason case

The Pechersk District Court in Kyiv ruled at a Jan. 19
hearing to release former president Petro Poroshenko on his own recognizance
and without bail, as a part of the criminal case alledging his state treason
and financing terrorism. Under this sanction, Poroshenko is banned from leaving
Kyiv or Kyiv region without permission from the court for the next two months.
Recall, at the court hearing on Jan. 17,
the prosecutors demanded that Poroshenko be detained or post UAH 1 bln (USD 35
mln) bail.

According to Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, the
most important takeaway of the ruling is that the court confirmed Poroshenko’s
status as a suspect in the criminal case. However, she declared her dissatisfaction
with the prevention measure and promised that her office would appeal for a
stricter one. Poroshenko’s side, which demanded that he should be declared
innocent, also promised to appeal.

Recall, Poroshenko is accused of facilitating coal
purchases from the occupied regions of eastern Ukraine in December 2014 –
November 2015 totaling UAH 215 mln. Prosecutors allege that the  money
paid was used by the terrorist organizations to finance their activities. Along
with Poroshenko, the suspects include Viktor Medvedchuk, who is a member of the
Ukrainian parliament and a friend of the Russian president.

Alexander Paraschiy: Applying a
soft pre-trial detention measure against Poroshenko is what we expected,
especially taking into account that any stricter measure would play against
uniting Ukraine, the thing to which U.S. Secretary of State called for on the
same day in Kyiv. Under the current circumstances, both sides got the maximum
they could have counted on.