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Reformer of the week – Sergii Gorbatuk
The in absentia cases department of the Prosecutor General’s Office, which investigates murders of the participants of the 2013-2014 EuroMaidan Revolution and other EuroMaidan cases, will be liquidated, the department head Sergii Gorbatuk told the Kyiv Post on June 23.
“They (the leadership of the Prosecutor General’s Office) have become sick and tired of us because we’re not allowing them to reach political bargains in our cases,” Gorbatuk said.
It is not clear if the liquidation plan has been officially signed by Lutsenko yet.
Gorbatuk attributed the planned liquidation to his criticism of the authorities’ alleged shady dealings with Yanukovych’s associates. The Prosecutor General’s Office denied the accusations, saying the restructuring was in line with the concept of separating investigative and prosecution functions.
The lawyers of EuroMaidan protesters said on June 25 that the liquidation of Gorbatuk’s unit “will lead to the collapse of EuroMaidan investigations.”
“We believe that the purpose of this liquidation is getting rid of an independent, outspoken and critical subordinate – department head Sergii Gorbatuk, as well as of independent investigators and prosecutors,” the lawyers said. “Another aim for the leadership of the Prosecutor General’s Office is to interfere in and micromanage cases in which it has a political interest and forget about all other cases.”
Anti-reformer of the week – Anzhela Stryzhevska
Investigators from the in absentia cases unit of the Prosecutor General’s Office and other units are expected to be transferred to a single investigative unit supervised by Deputy Prosecutor General Anzhela Stryzhevska, according to a reorganization plan of the prosecution service announced on June 23.
Stryzhevska did not respond to a request for comment.
The plans to liquidate Gorbatuk’s department came days after Sergii Gorbatuk, head of the in absentia cases unit, and one of his subordinates, Andriy Radionov, said that Stryzhevska and another deputy prosecutor general, Eugene Enin, had no right to negotiate with ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky as part of the Hr 540 million embezzlement case against him. Gorbatuk said it could have been the trigger for the liquidation.
The version of Radionov and Gorbatuk contradicts the official version of events earlier given by the Prosecutor General’s Office, which denied accusations of wrongdoing and said that the negotiations with Stavytsky had complied with the law.
Enin and Stryzhevska met with Stavytsky in 2016 in a hotel in Tel Aviv in Israel to negotiate the charges against him, according to an audio recording of the meeting leaked to Slidstvo.Info and published on June 9. The recording implies that the investigators could have conspired with the ex-minister, who has been wanted for embezzlement since 2014, in a backroom deal to soften the charges against him.
The journalists also released an audio recording of a call between a man sounding like Stavytsky and an unidentified mediator, whom he refers to as “Kolya.” They discuss the future meeting with Stryzhevska, and “Kolya” says he will bring and offer her “200” – presumably a bribe of $200,000.
Gorbatuk has also accused Stryzhevska of blocking corruption cases against Yanukovych associates and other suspects and refusing to sign notices of suspicion without grounds.
In 2017 Stryzhevska was a candidate for the Supreme Court and was vetoed by the Public Integrity Council, the judiciary’s civic society watchdog, because it said she did not meet professional integrity standards.
According to Stryzhevska’s asset declarations, she has Hr 170,000 and $20,000 in cash, her 19-year old daughter has $40,000, 5,000 euros and Hr 60,000 in cash, and her 78-year old mother has Hr 482,741 in cash. Stryzhevska has also declared a high-end Land Rover car made in 2008.
The Public Integrity Council said that Stryzhevska’s wealth raises questions about her integrity because she has worked as a state official since the 1980s, and she and her family had not been involved in business.
In 2006 the Prosecutor General’s Office opened a case against Stryzhevska, accusing her of falsifying a court ruling that canceled an investigation against Security Service of Ukraine officials who allegedly destroyed investigative materials linked to Russian mafia boss Semion Mogilevich. At that time, Stryzhevska was a judge.
