Drama intensifies in DBR investigations of Poroshenko

Sensational twists emerged on June 10 in the ongoing
drama between former President Poroshenko and the State Bureau of
Investigations (DBR), which is the law enforcement body that has opened five
criminal cases against him but has yet to bring him to trial. Poroshenko
arrived for questioning at the DBR headquarters in the latest criminal case
being investigated, in which he is alleged to have issued an illegal order in
2018 to force Yegor Bozhok – the then-head of the Foreign Intelligence Service
– “to exceed his powers and state authority” when appointing his first deputy,
as reported by the Prosecutor General’s website.

Instead of being questioned however, state prosecutors
attempted to issue Poroshenko a notice of suspicion in the criminal case – the
latest of at least a dozen being investigated – at the DBR headquarters. The
prosecutor’s statement said that detaining Poroshenko under bail was under
consideration. Accompanied by his advisers, Poroshenko avoided receiving the
notice, left the office and immediately visited the office of Prosecutor
General Iryna Venediktova. When confronting her, she said Poroshenko alleged
the law requires her to issue the notice of suspicion in person. The DBR
published a politically tinged video the same day attacking the president’s
character and alleging he has ignored 25 summons for questioning.

In response to Poroshenko’s actions, Venediktova, who
oversees the DBR, issued a statement accusing the former president and his
entourage of illegally forcing their way into her office. In addition, she said
she has the legal right to order her subordinates to issue the notice of
suspicion to Poroshenko. “That’s why it’s illegal to pressure the prosecutor
general to demand a repeat of issuing the suspicion (notice), which practically
means a repeat of the procedure that was already performed in a presence of
[Poroshenko’s] lawyers at the DBR building,” she said in a video statement. The
DBR has investigated at least 13 criminal cases against Poroshenko.

The same day of these events, a lawyer for Poroshenko
told national television that two criminal cases are being prepared by the
Prosecutor General’s Office for “hooliganism committed by the fifth president
Poroshenko with particular cynicism and disrespect for society” during the 2019
presidential campaign. A Feb. 25 incident involves Poroshenko removing the hat
of a woman in the crowd (perhaps jokingly), while the Feb. 27 incident involves
the president insulting a member of the audience (also perhaps jokingly).

Zenon Zawada: Issuing
notices of suspicions, and then engaging in the next step of opening criminal
cases, is a post-Soviet tactic of keeping political opponents under pressure
and threat of prosecution. The mounting notices and cases against Poroshenko
indicate that remains a priority for the Zelensky administration, in addition
to creating the appearance for the public in the mass media that Poroshenko
could be prosecuted for his alleged crimes (which would satisfy appetites for
revenge among his many critics and detractors).

Yet we are confident that this is all
made-for-television show in which a cat is toying with a mouse that it never
intends to do any serious damage to. We don’t expect any serious prosecution of
Poroshenko (resulting in a conviction) considering that Zelensky is so
dependent on the West for his political survival, and Western authorities don’t
want to see Poroshenko prosecuted. The evidence of that is when Zelensky seemed to endorse on May 21 the opening of a criminal case of state
treason against Poroshenko, only to back off after seven former U.S. ambassadors to Ukraine jointly signed an open
letter dated May 26 warning the Zelensky administration against getting
entangled in the U.S. presidential campaign. (The criminal case involves
Poroshenko allegedly granting then-U.S. Vice President Biden influence in
selecting Ukraine’s prosecutor general, based on alleged audio recordings
between the two that were leaked. Poroshenko said the recordings are
fraudulent.)