Lawyers: Yanukovych is not suspect in Mezhyhirya case

Ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and his son Oleksandr Yanukovych are not suspects in the case on the property of the Mezhyhirya residence, the Aver Lex law firm said, commenting on the message of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).

“By the decisions of the Pechersky District Court of Oct. 8, 2018 and Feb. 7, 2018, it was unequivocally established that neither Viktor Yanukovych nor Oleksandr Yanukovych are suspects in this case – there were not only handed suspicions, but the court itself recognized the suspicions as unfounded. NABU, by calling our clients suspects, disseminates deliberately untrue information that must be immediately refuted,” said the lawyer of Aver Lex Vitaliy Serdiuk.

He also recalled that on Oct. 26, 2020, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC), and on Jan. 19, the HACC Appeals Chamber had already suppressed attempts by NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) to choose preventive measures in the form of absentee detention for Viktor and Oleksandr Yanukovych in this case.

As reported, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) applied to the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) with a petition to choose preventive measures in the form of detention for ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and his son. “They are suspects in the case of the seizure of the Mezhyhirya Residence by abuse of their official position,” the NABU press service reported on the Telegram channel.

The actions of the ex-president and his son are qualified under Part 5 of Article 191, Part 3 of Article 209 (misappropriation, embezzlement or seizure of property by abuse of official position; legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Oleksandr Yanukovych is also charged with Part 5 of Article 27 (complicity) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

NABU has been investigating the case since December 2019. Materials of the criminal proceedings include more than 1,500 volumes.

The property of the Mezhyhirya Residence was arrested by the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv on July 13, 2015 (the decision was confirmed by Kyiv’s Court of Appeal on August 10 of the same year). On August 1, 2017, Kyiv’s Economic Court of Appeal invalidated the agreements under which the Mezhyhirya residence was removed from state ownership in 2007.