Ukraine prosecutor transfers Yanukovych cases to new division

The Prosecutor General of Ukraine has decided to transfer most of the cases in the criminal investigation of the regime of former President Viktor Yanukovych to a newly created administration, its press service reported on Oct. 24. These alleged crimes include usurpation of power, theft of state property and reducing the state’s defense capacity, among other crimes. The investigator responsible or these cases, Serhiy Horbatiuk, will be left with completing the investigations of the crimes committed during the three-month EuroMaidan protests that ended in over 100 deaths.

The decision came nearly three weeks after Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko reprimanded Horbatiuk for failing to file any criminal charges, failing to improve the pretrial investigation and neglecting to conduct questionings and searches, among other violations, the pravda.com.ua news site reported. After learning he lost authority over the most of the cases, Horbatiuk told the news site that the transfer threatens the cases from being fully investigated and Lutsenko’s reprimands were baseless. Several criminal charges are already being considered by courts, he said.

Zenon Zawada: Disregarding the standard accusations and power struggles in any Ukrainian political affair, the fact that we’re approaching the third anniversary of the violent acts that launched the EuroMaidan protest without so much as a court trial confirms the negligence of the Poroshenko administration. Rather than reaching convictions, members of the Yanukovych administration are slowly getting their sanctions lifted and restoring their business operations. 

This fiasco also speaks to a deal of criminal immunity having been struck between the president and his predecessor. We expect some kind of a show trial to eventually be staged, yet we expect no criminal convictions of anyone of significance to be reached.