The criminal investigation
concerns an alleged attempt to steal State property on a large scale and
is linked to the Indar insulin factory of which Romanyuk was Deputy
Director. However given that the criminal case dates back to 2008 and
Romanyuk was not a suspect when he ran for parliamentary office in
October 2012, skepticism from the Italian authorities would seem
inevitable.
They have compelling grounds for paying close attention to the circumstances around the elections and subsequent events.
In
the October parliamentary elections, Viktor Romanyuk stood for election
from the opposition Batkivshchyna Party in single mandate election
district No. 94. He was clearly (albeit, unexpectedly) in the lead
until his main opponent, Party of the Regions candidate, and wife of the
former Kyiv Regional Governor, Tetyana Zasukha, applied to the court to
have the election results in some precincts cancelled.
The civic election watchdog OPORA expressed concern
at the time over different court rulings in analogous cases. It
pointed out that a court had rejected two of Zasukha’s applications when
examining them in the presence of the media and with a large number of
Romanyuk supporters outside the courtroom. Identical applications were
however allowed.
The cancellation of 30 thousand votes was
scandalous enough for the Central Election Commission to decide that a
re-election was needed. Romanyuk is planning to take part in the
re-run, though almost certainly – like Avakov – from Italy.
In
January he applied to the European Court of Human Rights against the
decision by District Election Commission No. 94 to invalidate the voting
at 27 polling stations. He asserts that this decision violated his
right to free elections.
In mid February OPORA reported
that Romanyuk had been forced to leave the country. The Italian
authorities will surely find it of interest that the Ukrainian tax
authorities were then carrying out a check into another company
altogether,
The sense of déjà vu over this case is just one of
its profoundly disturbing aspects. In January 2012 a criminal
investigation was launched against Arsen Avakov, popular Kharkiv
politician, former Governor of the Kharkiv region and the officially
unsuccessful candidate in the seriously flawed October 2010 local
elections. He was declared on the Interpol wanted list, and two months
later arrested, also in Italy. He was later released from custody, and
another court in Italy refused to extradite him.
Arsen Avakov
remained on the Batkivshchyna candidate list and was elected to
parliament in October 2012. He now has parliamentary immunity and the
Ukrainian authorities have laid off.
It is no less worrying that
the Ukrainian authorities seem so oblivious to the impression such
tactics are creating. While it would suit his main opponent if Romanyuk
asked for political asylum in Italy, there seems very little reason why
he should since the chances of his extradition are minimal.
Other
risks are considerably greater. All of this is taking place in the
months following the EU-Ukraine Summit where conditions and a deadline
for implementation were imposed if Ukraine is not to lose the chance of a
vital EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
Since key changes involve
elimination of selective justice and repressive measures against
members of the opposition, the message given by this new case could not
be clearer.
Halya Coynash is a member of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group.
