The Prosecutor General's Office has explained that delays in the criminal case regarding sexual abuse of minors are due to the refusal of their adoptive mother to involve them in the investigation.
A representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office told Ukrainian News: "The investigation into the criminal case continues. Dmytro Poliukhovych continues to attend questionings on summons from the investigator… There is a problem with the mother, she does not allow involving her [adopted] children in any investigative actions. That is the reason for delays in the investigation," he said.
He also said that Verkhovna Rada deputies of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, in particular, Viktor Ukolov, Ruslan Bohdan and Serhii Teriokhin are witnesses in the case.
At the same time, Bohdan said that the case is at the stage of closure.
"I have been questioned several times, but as far as I think there is no sense in this. They have already defined their position and have yet to collect their political will and make an announcement. The case is at the stage of closure, as far as I know," Bohdan said.
According to him, the case was invented from the very beginning for political games.
"There was nothing there. Everything was based on the words of the [adoptive] mother from the very beginning," he said.
At the same time, Teriokhin noted that the interim investigative commission of the Verkhovna Rada for the investigation into the circumstances related to the accusations of corruption of minors passed a decision in April that there was no evidence confirming involvement of Teriokhin and Bohdan in any sexual actions against the children on the ground of results of physiological and physiological examination with the use of a lie detector.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, deputy prosecutor general Vitalii Schetkin said there is no evidence indicating the involvement of the lawmakers in the case.
"To date, the investigation has not proven the participation and there is no evidence giving grounds to institute a criminal case against the lawmakers whom you know," said Schetkin.
He said a forensic medical examination was held long ago on an initiative from the mother, but the investigation finds it necessary to hold an additional forensic medical examination.
"In order to confirm the examination a medicolegist must examine the children himself, but the mother resolutely objects to this," he said.
He said the position of the mother impedes a full-scale investigation into the case.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the press service of the Party of the Regions circulated in October 2009 a statement in which Parliamentary Deputy Vadym Kolesnichenko of the Party of the Regions said that the mother of the two children that were allegedly raped by senior officials at Artek had contacted him.
Media reports later claimed that Artek’s Director-General Borys Novozhylov and parliamentary deputies Ukolov, Bohdan, and Teriokhin (all members of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc) were also involved in the case.
All these parliamentary deputies and Novozhylov denied involvement in the case.
The parliament set up an interim parliamentary commission on October 20, 2009 to investigate the allegations of sexual perversion of minors at Artek.
