You're reading: Melnychenko: If unfinished, case against Kuchma may hit Yanukovych

If Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office does not bring the criminal case against the country's second president, Leonid Kuchma, to its logical conclusion, this will be a blow to the reputation of the current president, Viktor Yanukovych, a former officer of the State Guard Department, Major Mykola Melnychenko, has said.

"I regard the opening of the criminal case as a courageous, strong action of [President] Yanukovych in the first place," Melnychenko said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

However, according to Melnychenko, if the Prosecutor General’s Office does not complete the investigation into the case against Kuchma, "this will hit primarily Yanukovych like a boomerang."

According to him, this could happen if everybody involved maintains silence.

At the same time, Melnychenko believes that First Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin will be able to complete the investigation into this case.

"Renat Ravelyovych Kuzmin is a bulldog, if he snatches at something, he won’t let go," Melnychenko said.

According to him, the prosecutors have enough evidence to bring the investigation of this case to trial. However, someone might be bribed, such as the judges, he said.

When asked his opinion on whether the criminal case against Kuchma was a personal initiative by Yanukovych, Melnychenko said: "I would not say that it is Yanukovych’s initiative. Yanukovych did not throw sand in the wheel of the investigator and Kuzmin. But he had enough political will, and there would be no case without his [Yanukovych’s] tacit consent."

Speaking about the possibility of prosecuting Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn, Melnychenko said: "Everything depends on public opinion." He said that Kuchma had no motive for the murder of Georgy Gongadze, and he had fallen victim to Lytvyn’s schemes.