Yanukovych sentenced to 15 years in prison in the case of the seizure of the Sukholuchya farmland: details
20 January 14:09
The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine has sentenced former President Viktor Yanukovych in absentia to 15 years in prison in the case of the seizure of the Sukholuchya hunting grounds in the Kyiv region.
This was reported by the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office on Facebook, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
“On January 20, a panel of judges of the High Anti-Corruption Court announced a guilty verdict against the former president of Ukraine,” the statement said.
The court found the former president guilty of seizing a 17.5-hectare plot of forest land in the Sukholuchya village council in the Kyiv region, with an estimated value of over UAH 22 million, i.e., of committing a crime under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and sentenced him to 15 years in prison with deprivation of the right to hold positions in state and local government bodies, positions in bodies, institutions, and organizations related to the performance of organizational, administrative, or economic functions, or to perform such functions under special authority for a period of three years, with the confiscation of all property belonging to him by right of ownership.
The former president’s accomplice was found guilty of committing a crime under Part 5 of Article 27 and Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
At the same time, the court released the person from serving the sentence on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired.
The court’s verdict will come into force 30 days after it is announced, unless it is appealed.
The SAP reminded that in 2007, the former president (at the time of the crime, the prime minister) with the aim of seizing state property, namely a plot of forest land belonging to the Dnipro-Teteriv Forestry and Hunting Economy in the territory of the Sukholutsk Village Council of the Vyshgorod District of Kyiv Region, initiated a series of decisions that led to the removal of the above-mentioned land from state ownership.
To implement the criminal scheme, the former president’s accomplices involved their associates, who applied to the Kyiv Regional State Administration with requests to allocate them land plots of up to 1 hectare, and subsequently to change their intended use, which would allow the land to be transferred without hindrance to a company controlled by the former president.
Subsequently, in 2009-2011, a hotel and restaurant complex was built on this site, which was used by the former president for personal needs.
The investigation into these facts began in 2014. Until November 2019, the case was investigated by the Special Investigations Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine. The case was then transferred to the SAPO and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Given that all the defendants are wanted, special court proceedings (in absentia) were conducted against them.
