From dioxin poisoning to political intrigue: why is Yushchenko’s case still incomplete?
18 October 2024 13:39
ANALYSIS
The pre-trial investigation into the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko, a presidential candidate at the time of the assassination attempt, remains open. This information was confirmed by the Office of the Prosecutor General. They say that “the investigation is still ongoing”, but no new information has been provided. "Komersant Ukrainian" spoke to a former deputy prosecutor general who had Yushchenko’s case file. Why no one has been able to find and punish the perpetrators for 20 years – read more in the article.
Mykola Holomsha, former First Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine (2003-2010, 2014-2019), who headed the investigation into the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko, said that the investigation was slowed down by personnel changes and political pressure. In an exclusive comment for Komersant ukrayinskyi, Golomsha said that he received the case in 2007, and for a year and a half, the investigation was led by Halyna Klymovych, a senior investigator at the Prosecutor General’s Office for particularly important cases.
“When we got to Yanukovych, he refused to be interrogated, and I was persuaded to interrogate him, but I did not. I am an investigator, and I have never violated the Criminal Procedure Code,”
– Golomsha said.
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After 2014, a number of high-profile cases were put on hold
The case of Yushchenko’s poisoning was withdrawn. Golomsha also added that after 2014, personnel changes and the appointment of unqualified people in law enforcement agencies halted progress not only in the case of the former president, but also in other important cases. In particular, in the cases of Georgiy Gongadze, Tetyana Chornovol and Volodymyr Ivasyuk. According to him, these investigations have been transferred to other hands and put on hold.
“If the investigators had been given the opportunity to complete the investigation, we would have already had concrete conclusions, but personnel changes and ill-conceived policies blocked this process,”
– said Golomsha.
He stressed that the priority of law enforcement agencies should be to investigate such crimes to prevent them from happening again in the future.
“Unpunished evil returns,”
– concluded Golomsha, noting that it is important not to stop these cases and not to let them be forgotten.
It is known that the incident took place on 6 September 2004 during Viktor Yushchenko’s presidential campaign. On that day, he experienced a sharp deterioration in his health, which, as it turned out later, was associated with dioxin poisoning. It became one of the most high-profile cases in the history of Ukrainian politics.
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Author: Anastasia Fedor
