The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) is not planning to arrest Serhiy Vlasenko, a defense lawyer of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and his ex-wife, Natalia Okunska, has filed another appeal against him this year, First Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Renat Kuzmin has said.
“The PGO is not going to arrest Vlasenko. We are satisfied with the
way in which he defends Tymoshenko… He should keep doing so,” Kuzmin
said in an interview with the Segodnya daily newspaper.
“Actually only the prosecutor general can sign an inquiry to the
Verkhovna Rada [Ukraine’s parliament] regarding drawing of a people’s
deputy to criminal responsibility, as well as only he can sign a
notification on suspicion of a people’s deputy being involved in a
crime. You should ask him whether he would do this,” he said.
Kuzmin added that Vlasenko’s ex-wife had filed several appeals saying
that he used physical force against her in the presence of their
children and other people.
“She has filed one of such appeals this year. It was added to the
register of pre-trial investigations according to the procedure and an
investigator is checking it,” he said.
As reported, on January 21 Vlasenko stated that he might be arrested soon.
“They are likely to arrest me in about three weeks… I’m not making
any forecasts, I know that by order of [Ukrainian President] Viktor
Yanukovych they will submit to the Verkhovna Rada an inquiry [on
depriving me of deputy’s immunity] on three cases within a week or ten
days. They will approve it” Vlasenko said.
The MP said that the cases against him were opened non-fulfillment of court rulings and banditry.
Vlasenko also said that he was accused of non-fulfillment of court
rulings under a ruling of Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court on the
partition of his and Okunska’s joint property.
