Venediktova opens five criminal cases against Poroshenko

Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has opened five
criminal cases against former President Poroshenko for his allegedly illegal dismissals
and appointments of judges to the Supreme Court of Ukraine in 2017 and 2019,
the office’s press service reported on Apr. 8. The dismissed judges submitted
the complaints alleging the legislation signed by the president violated the
Constitution and existing laws. The cases involve abuse of authority,
interfering in the activity of judicial bodies, failing to execute court
rulings, actions aimed at violent change in the constitutional order, and
actions aimed at state overthrow. The State Bureau of Investigations has been
charged with investigating the cases, the press release said.

The latest criminal cases opened against Poroshenko
are “legal trash” in an ongoing campaign of political persecution against him,
his attorney Illia Novykov said in response, as reported by the pravda.com.ua
news site. “This decision is an attempt to place in a new wrapping the
situation that developed on the eve of the resignation of (former Prosecutor
General Ruslan) Riaboshapka,” he said. “Drafts of notices of suspicion were
printed, which Venediktova tried to convince Riaboshapka to sign. Riaboshapka
refused. In one of his interviews, he referred to them as ‘legal trash.’ I can
agree with that. This is truly legal trash. The attempt to transfer to a 
criminal court the issue of the president’s constitutional authority on
appointing judges is trash.” Venediktova is also seeking revenge against the
appointed judges because she failed the selection process for the Supreme
Court, he said.

Zenon Zawada: Venediktova
indicated in an interview published on Apr. 7 that President Zelensky is not
interested in any criminal prosecution of former President Poroshenko.
Therefore, Novykov’s claim that she is seeking revenge is plausible. Even more
plausible is that a campaign of revenge is being waged by Andriy Portnov, the
lawyer representing the interests of the Yanukovych entourage. Venediktova has
acknowledged meeting with Portnov.

We don’t believe it’s likely that Poroshenko will
go to trial for criminal charges, especially since the public is far more
concerned with other matters. In the big picture, these cases won’t have any
positive effect on Ukraine’s situation with rule of law or fighting corruption.