You're reading: Prosecutor General to investigate Scherban’s son’s claim ‘within reasonable time’

The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine will investigate a statement by Donetsk Regional Council Deputy Ruslan Scherban about the murder of his father, Yevhen Scherban, in 1996.

"We will carry out all necessary investigatory actions so as to confirm or disprove this claim," Head of the Main Investigatory Department for Special Cases of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine Andriy Kurys said at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday, March 4.

He said this could be called a pre-trial investigation into the criminal case on the murder of Scherban, which has never been suspended.

According to Kurys, if involvement of former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko in the crime is proved, a criminal case could be opened, as the regulation on remoteness of the time of the crime does not spread on this case.

The PGO representative added that the check would be carried out "within a reasonable time."

As reported, a member of the executive committee of the Liberal Party, MP Yevhen Scherban, was shot dead at Donetsk Airport on November 4, 1996. Law enforcement authorities excluded a political scenario behind the murder and considered a criminal scenario to be the main one.

First Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin said late in October 2011 that the investigation into the case on those who ordered Scherban’s murder was underway and that reports about Tymoshenko’s possible involvement in this should be thoroughly checked.

"We have documents from U.S. prosecutor’s office confirming this scenario. And these reports should be checked," he said.

On April 2, 2012, Kuzmin said that Scherban’s killers got the money from firms that were controlled by former Prime Ministers Lazarenko and Tymoshenko, who headed the UESU Corporation.

At the same time, Tymoshenko’s defense lawyer, Serhiy Vlasenko, said he believes that the new charges brought against the former prime minister are groundless "propaganda" designed "to blacken Tymoshenko’s name." He also described as "absurd" reports about Tymoshenko’s alleged involvement in Scherban’s killing.

At a press conference on April 4, 2012 Scherban said that he had passed to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine documents on the possible involvement of Tymoshenko and former Ukrainian Premier Pavlo Lazarenko in the murder of his father. He did not specify what exactly documents he was talking about, adding that he has been searching for those guilty all the time since his father was murdered. Scherban also said that new facts have been discovered in the case and Lazarenko and Tymoshenko should be interrogated on them.