You're reading: Kuchma demands prosecutors resume investigation of case against Melnychenko

Second Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma (1994-2005) has filed an appeal at the Prosecutor General's Office against the closure of a criminal case opened against former major of the State Guard Department Mykola Melnychenko.

Kuchma’s lawyers told Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday that on March 1, 2005, the Prosecutor General’s Office had closed the criminal case against Melnychenko, "because it believed that he acted at that time in a state of extreme necessity to allegedly prevent potential damage to public interests, and therefore his actions were not criminal."

"[Kuchma’s] complaint states that the Prosecutor General’s Office had no legal grounds to recognize that Melnychenko committed his actions in a state of extreme necessity, and therefore it had no legal grounds to closing the criminal case under paragraph 2, Article 6 of the Criminal Procedure Code and Article 39 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine," Kuchma’s lawyers said.