Investigation into Yanukovych for Usurpation of Power and Crimes Against the Maidan Concluded: What Are the Results?
17 June 15:12
Prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General, in collaboration with investigators from the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR), have completed a special pre-trial investigation into Viktor Yanukovych and 16 other former high-ranking officials, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko announced, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
This involves criminal proceedings against members of a criminal organization created and led by the former President of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014.
“This case is of particular importance to me. At the time, as the lead prosecutor, I oversaw the proceedings in the case of Viktor Yanukovych’s high treason and personally signed the indictment regarding his complicity in Russia’s waging of an aggressive war. At that time, the court found him guilty and sentenced him to 13 years in prison. Today, this work continues in the case concerning the system that was established for the illegal seizure, appropriation, and retention of state power,” Kravchenko’s statement reads.
According to him, the investigation established that after February 25, 2010, Viktor Yanukovych, in violation of his oath as President of Ukraine, began using the powers granted to him not in the interests of the state and its citizens, but to exercise direct personal control over the state apparatus.
“To this end, he recruited individuals from his inner circle—who had experience working in government agencies, the law enforcement system, and the security sector—into a criminal organization. Members of this organization were appointed to key positions in the Verkhovna Rada, the Cabinet of Ministers, ministries and agencies, law enforcement agencies, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the judicial system, local state administrations, and other state structures,” the Prosecutor General emphasized.
As Kravchenko pointed out, they created the appearance of legitimate activity, but in fact acted in the interests of the “great president” or in their own shared interests. This system operated in virtually all spheres of government and regions of the country. It enabled the planning and organization of serious and particularly serious crimes.
A separate and extremely important part of the investigation concerns the events of the Revolution of Dignity.
In November 2013, following the refusal to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union, mass peaceful gatherings of citizens were perceived by the leadership of this organization as a threat to their continued hold on power.
Viktor Yanukovych, as the head of a criminal organization, ordered law enforcement agencies and the Armed Forces of Ukraine to use force against protesters in central Kyiv.
The organization of this operation was entrusted to officials under his control at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and other members of the criminal organization.
This resulted in the illegal suppression of a peaceful assembly, the violent dispersal of protesters, and the most tragic events of February 18–20, 2014, on the Maidan.
Between November 21, 2013, and February 20, 2014, as a result of the illegal actions of members of the criminal organization, 70 civilians were killed, and more than 1,200 protesters sustained injuries of varying severity.
“Seventeen former senior officials of state authorities are facing criminal charges in this case.
Also included are Viktor Yanukovych, the former Prime Minister of Ukraine; the Prosecutor General; the Minister of Internal Affairs and his deputy; the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and his first deputy—the head of the Anti-Terrorist Center; heads of SBU units; the Minister of Defense; the Chief of the General Staff — Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Head of the Kyiv City Police, officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the commander of the Kyiv special forces unit “Berkut,”” the Prosecutor General clarified.
As noted in the statement, at the initiative of the prosecution, the suspects were subject to pretrial detention as a preventive measure. If the suspects are in hiding on the territory of the Russian Federation or in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the pretrial investigation regarding them was conducted under a special in absentia procedure.
In reality, the completion of the investigation is not the end. It is a transition to the next stage of accountability.
“Justice takes time. But time does not erase crimes. Nor does it absolve from responsibility those who believed that power gives them the right to subjugate the state, exploit its resources, and use force against their own people,” Ruslan Kravchenko concluded.
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