Opposition Bloc members post bail for Dobkin

Fellow members of the Opposition Bloc party have
reportedly posted bail for MP Mykhaylo Dobkin, who was ordered detained by the
Prosecutor General’s Office. Vadim Novinsky (estimated wealth USD 550 mln)
submitted UAH 30 mln and Borys Kolesnikov (estimated wealth USD 215 mln)
submitted UAH 20 mln to cover the UAH 50 mln bail, reported Elena Bondarenko,
another party member, on her Facebook page on July 18.

Recall, a Kyiv district court gave Dobkin five days to
post bail or remain in detention for at least two months at a July 15 hearing.
Two days earlier, parliament voted to remove his political immunity. Dobkin
faces a criminal investigation into charges for abuse of authority and
conspiracy to commit fraud for two incidents involving illegal privatization of
land in the city of Kharkiv.

Zenon Zawada: An MP
himself, Novinsky had his political immunity removed by a parliamentary vote in
December. Yet the Prosecutor General’s Office never got around to detaining him
for a criminal case involving an alleged kidnapping of a priest. We predict a
similar fate for Dobkin, who will not face any criminal trial. Neither has
Oleksandr Yefremov, another former Party of Regions MP who remains detained
without ever appearing in court. He has since had one set of criminal charges
replaced by others.

The Poroshenko administration likes to keep its
potential rivals, scapegoats and valuable witnesses on a leash by stripping
them of immunity and opening criminal investigations. But it has yet to bring a
single influential political player to trial for criminal charges, let alone
conviction. The lack of convictions has cost the administration much
credibility among the public, both domestically and in the West.