A former member of the Ukrainian parliament (Party of Regions) and businessman Stanislav Melnyk has been found dead in his apartment in the town of Ukrainka in the Kyiv Oblast. Early reports suggest that he had committed a suicide after shooting himself with a rifle.
“Melnyk’s suicide in Ukrainka (Obukhivsky district, Kyiv Oblast) was reported by phone at around 9 p.m. yesterday. His wife entered the apartment, opened the door and saw her husband in the bathroom. At first she thought that he had fallen ill, but then she found the gun in his hands, as well as a suicide note,” a Kyiv regional police spokesperson told Interfax on March 10.
According to preliminary reports, the former parliamentarian took his own life by firing a rifle at himself, the spokesperson said.
The suicide note asking for forgiveness was found beside his body.
Police have launched a criminal inquiry into premeditated murder. This is a standard procedure in such situations, the regional police spokesperson said.
“The inquiry will finally ascertain whether it was a suicide,” the police said.
In 1999-2005, before he was elected to parliament, Melnyk served as the director of a Donetsk brewery (called Sarmat since December 2001), a U.S.-Ukrainian joint venture. Between February 2005 and May 2006 he served as General Director of PrJSC Lux.
