Former MP Pashynskiy jailed for alleged violent attack

A Kyiv district
court ruled on Oct. 7 to arrest the scandalous former MP Serhiy Pashynskiy and
detain him without bail for at least two months. Officials with the State
Bureau of Investigations (DBR) had named Pashynskiy a suspect on Oct. 4 in the crime of inflicting severe
bodily harm. That day, Andriy Portnov
posted a Telegram message foreseeing Pashynskiy’s detention, warning, “We will
try to influence the conditions of his detention in the jail cell and the
proper team of like-minded cellmates.” Portnov is a lawyer for former President
Yanukovych who is widely accused of collaborating with the Zelensky
administration to exact revenge on the enemies of the Yanukovych administration
that was overthrown during the EuroMaidan protests.

In his turn,
Pashynskiy alleged Portnov arranged the court hearing, which “violated all
acting legal norms” considering the criminal case was investigated and closed.
“This is a return to the political persecution and justice of the times of
Yanukovych,” said the party’s press service, adding that the arrest was driven
by Pashynskiy’s role supporting the EuroMaidan. His lawyer, Andriy Fedur, said Pashynsky’s
life will be under threat in jail, as threatened by Portnov.  

Also attending the
court hearing was Oleksandr Turchynov, the former secretary of the National
Security and Defense Council. Pashynskiy served
as the Presidential Administration head when Turchynov served as Ukraine’s
acting president between March and June 2014, following Yanukovych flight to
Russia. Both were among the founders of the defunct People’s Front
party. “A trend is currently being formed in which all representatives of the
previous government that worked between 2014 and 2019 bad and they are all
problematic,” Turchynov said.

The day of Pashynskiy’s arrest, Portnov took responsibility for his role
in gathering and presenting evidence,
warning that former President Poroshenko will be the next to be arrested and
detained.