Viktor Yanukovych has triggered both of Ukraine’s two revolutions in the last decade. In the first peaceful one, the 2004 Orange Revolution, the public stopped him from claiming the presidency in a rigged presidential election. Neither he nor his accomplices were ever punished.

The second one, the ongoing 2013-14 EuroMaidan Revolution, was much bloodier but succeeded in overthrowing Yanukovych on Feb. 22. However, it’s still not clear whether he will be punished for any crimes as he remains a fugitive from justice, promising a press conference in exile from Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Feb. 28 to reassert that he is president.

Ukraine, still reeling from the shock of having nearly 100 people killed in violence that Yanukovych allegedly orchestrated with other top officials, got more shocks on Feb. 27. That’s when newly minted Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk announced that Yanukovych and his cronies had fleeced the nation for up to $70 billion in the last three years, in one scheme after another. That averages to be more than 10 percent of the nation’s annual gross domestic product in each of those three years.

No wonder this is a nation of Mercedes and mansions for 1 percent of the population and grinding poverty for most of the remaining 45 million people.

Amid the horror from the violence and the outrage at Yanukovych’s over-the-top corruption, Ukrainians and their friends abroad need to keep in mind that he was only the figurehead of a deeply corrupt oligarch system of crony capitalism. Ukrainians need to uproot and dislodge this entire system.
There’s more. For whatever reason, no matter who has been in charge they have not been able to create a fair and effective judicial system.

There are early signs also that parliament and the new interim government, while understandably having to take emergency action to confront the nation’s political and economic crisis, are in danger of trampling on democratic principles in their rush for new laws. If nothing changes in Ukraine except for the faces in power, then the EuroMaidan Revolution will be as disappointing as the Orange Revolution of a decade ago.

The first order of business is to find Yanukovych and other wanted officials from his administration and prosecute them for murder and/or financial crimes. We are glad to hear that the alleged financial crimes of ex-Prime Minister Mykola Azarov may finally get investigated.

The next order of business is to elect a new parliament, soon after the early presidential election on May 25. A parliament with the likes of ex-speakers Volodymyr Lytvyn and Volodymyr Rybak, among hundreds of other holdovers, many with highly tainted pasts, will not lead Ukraine into a bright future. EuroMaidan created numerous heroes among new faces who could well be good political leaders if elected.

The world has seen Ukraine’s many strengths and deep weaknesses on display as never before. As gratifying as catching and prosecuting Yanukovych may be, along with chronicling his excesses, now is no time to celebrate. Ukraine has many other ills to cure as it ponders how it elected such a monster in 2010 and why nobody stopped his pillaging before now.