You're reading: SBU to insist on repeated questioning of BYuT MP Sokolov on Dnipropetrovsk terrorists case

Ukrainian MP Mykhailo Sokolov (the BYT-Batkivschyna faction) did not appear on Wednesday for repeated questioning by an investigator of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in the case of "Dnipropetrovsk terrorists" and the service is planning to call him again, Chief of the SBU Investigation Department Ivan Derevianko has said. 

“Sokolov was questioned in the building of the SBU office in Dnipropetrovsk region on July 9 in the presence of his lawyer, Bondar. Today [on Wednesday] we called him in for questioning, but he has not appeared, claiming that he will decide whether to come or not,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.

Derevianko said that on Wednesday Sokolov was invited to come to the SBU central office or the SBU office in Dnipropetrovsk region, depending on where he is.

“If he does not appear, the Criminal Procedure Code envisages procedures related to the absence of witnesses and other participants in the process, including the forced appearance of witnesses. But it’s necessary to take into account the fact that he is a people’s deputy of Ukraine, so there is a special procedure, including a repeated invitation,” he said.

It was reported that on April 27, 2012, four explosions occurred in a one-hour span in Dnipropetrovsk, injuring 31 people, including 10 teenagers, 26 victims were hospitalized. One victim, a woman, remains in hospital. All the explosive devices were planted in concrete trash containers.

SBU investigators are probing the criminal case opened by prosecutors on terror charges.

On May 31, senior officials in the Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor General’s Office stated that two suspects had been arrested for allegedly demanding $4.5 million, otherwise they threatened to continue the explosions. It emerged on June 1 that four people were arrested. All of them have been remanded in custody by the court while the investigation is ongoing.

It was found later that one of them, Sukachov, is a senior political science professor at the National University of Dnipropetrovsk, and the second one, Vitaliy Fedoriak, is an assistant professor of political science.