First Deputy Chairman of the Batkivschyna Party Oleksandr Turchynov has described as "a government political order" a statement by Donetsk Regional Council Deputy Ruslan Scherban about the alleged involvement of the oppositional leader Yulia Tymoshenko in the murder of his father.
"And today, on their [the Regions Party’s] orders, he [Ruslan Scherban] gave a press conference and made controversial allegations about his father’s involvement in business, even when he was a people’s deputy. He also told tall stories about the facts he could not have witnessed, as he was too young. Moreover, at the dictates of the Regions Party, he is linking the name of Yulia Tymoshenko with this falsified information – he’s obviously fulfilling a political order," Turchynov said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
He added that the main figure in the case on the murder of Yevhen Scherban, Yevhen Kushnir, was killed at a detention facility in Donetsk.
"Of course those who ordered this crime must be found," Turchynov added.
At a press conference on Wednesday 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.
Scherban added that he was not trying to achieve any political goals and that he had never received any proposals from the Regions Party.
Earlier, Scherban said to the media that he could prove Yulia Tymoshenko and Pavlo Lazarenko were involved in the killing of his father, MP Yevhen Scherban, in 1996. Scherban has sent a respective letter to U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Tefft.
"Many times I was personally present during business negotiations between my father and Tymoshenko and Lazarenko. They constantly demanded that my father sacrifice his business interests for the sake of the UESU Company’s interests, repeatedly threatening him with death. This fact is known to many other people," the publication cited his letter.
"He [Yevhen Scherban] refused to give away his business to Tymoshenko, despite threats, including from then Ukrainian Prime Minister Lazarenko," Scherban said.
He said Lazarenko at that time was obliged to repay a debt of $50 million to his father, but that he had not done so.
Scherban explained his long silence on this matter due to the fact that Lazarenko and Tymoshenko were at liberty and held high public posts.
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.
