Kyiv’s Pechersk District Court on Sept. 15 ordered the arrest of Oleksandr Lavrynovych, who was justice minister under the ousted former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, for 60 days under a criminal case on usurping power.
The Prosecutor General’s Office has accused Lavrynovych along with Yanukovych of usurping power in 2010 through illegally changing the Constitution, increasing presidential powers without the consent of parliament.
Under such cases, defendants are not allowed to be released on bail.
Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko reported on Sept. 6 on his Facebook page that Yanukovych, Lavrynovych and others are suspected of committing a constitutional coup after causing changes to be made in the Constitution, and then including these changes in the state registry, putting them into force.
In September 2010, the Constitutional Court made changes to the Constitution, canceling the Constitutional reform of 2004 and returning to the wording of the Constitutional passed in 1996.
This gave Yanukovych more powers than his predecessor Viktor Yushchenko, and at the same time reduced parliament’s powers.
In February 2014, just after Yanukovych fled Kyiv, the parliament revoked those changes and reinstated the Constitution of 2004.
According to the Criminal Code, people found guilty changing the constitutional order and usurping power face from five to 10 years in prison.
Lavrynovych, 61, said after hearing the court’s decision that he had never violated the law. He described himself as “the easiest target” for those currently in power.
“They (the authorities) just needed to redirect people’s attention and pretend they’re effectively fighting against criminality in Ukraine, and that they are really persecuting the former criminal authorities, and not negotiating with them,” he said.
Lavrynovych, who held the post of justice minister three times and headed the High Council of Justice until April 2014, is among several former Yanukovych’s officials who have been the subject of criminal investigations after the Euromaidan Revolution that ousted Yanukovych.
But in most cases Yanukovych’s former allies have managed to evade arrest. One exception is Oleksandr Yefremov, the leader of Yanukovych’s party faction in the former parliament, who was arrested in 2016 on charges of separatism.
