Prosecutors: Court orders arrest of former major Melnychenko

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office has confirmed reports in the media that Shevchenkivsky District Court in Kyiv has ordered the arrest of former Major of the State Department of Guard Mykola Melnychenko as he is hiding from investigation. "On Oct. 18, 2011, Shevchenkivsky District Court issued a ruling to choose the measure of restraint for Melnychenko in the form of detention," Prosecutor General's Office spokesperson Yuriy Boichenko told Interfax-Ukraine.

He said that the court ruling says that if Melnychenko is detained, he should be brought to court in less than two days in order to choose the measure of restraint in the form of detention.

When asked why the court issued such a ruling, Boichenko said: "This is due to the fact that Melnychenko is on the international wanted list, evading investigation and preventing the establishment of truth in the case."

On July 29, 2011, Kyiv Court of Appeals upheld a decision of Kyiv's Pechersky District Court of June 23, 2011, which cancelled a resolution of former Prosecutor General Sviatoslav Piskun of March 1, 2005, who closed the criminal case against Melnychenko.

The criminal case against him was opened on the disclosure of state secrets, abuse of office and using counterfeit documents.

The tapes secretly recorded by Melnychenko in the office of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma have been declared evidence in a criminal case opened against Kuchma on charges of abuse of office.

On Oct. 14, 2011, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office said that Melnychenko had twice attempted to leave Ukrainian territory and that on Sept. 23, an SBU investigator issued a resolution to put him on the wanted list.

According to media reports, Melnychenko is in the United States. Читайте об этом на www.kyivpost.ua