The trial on the former chairman of the Crimean parliament, Anatoliy Hrytsenko, will take place in Zaporizhia region to ensure there is a fair judicial process.
"This is a ruling of the Higher Specialized Court [of Ukraine] on the appeal of the Court of Appeals of Crimea," Crimean Deputy Prosecutor Rishat Abdiev said in an interview with the First Crimean weekly newspaper.
"As far as a I know, this decision was made due to the fact that Hrytsenko was a top official and was involved in conferring honorary titles to a number of judges [in Crimea]. There are a lot of them: If I’m not mistaken, about 55," he said.
According to Abdiev, to avoid a conflict of interest and the threat judges might feel a "moral obligation" to the former chairman of the Crimean parliament, it was decided to send this case to the Higher Specialized Court of Ukraine, which, considering all the details, decided to pass the case to Zaporizhia region.
"There are no other reasons – this is all being done to ensure a fair judicial process, so as to avoid any complaints and so that no one could prejudice the judges’ ruling," the deputy prosecutor said.
Former Chairman of the Crimean Parliament and current member of the Supreme Council of Crimea from the Regions Party Anatoliy Hrytsenko was detained on January 24, 2011 Three criminal cases against Hrytsenko, which have now been united into one case, are being investigated.
In particular, a criminal case on the illegal allocation of 4,800 hectares of land owned by the Azovsky State Farm is being investigated. Hrytsenko signed a respective instruction [on the allocation of land] when he chaired Lenine District State Administration of Crimea.
The criminal cases against Hrytsenko on the abuse of power while passing 3,600 hectares of forestland to a limited liability company and on abuse of office while allocating material aid are also being investigated.
