Ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was convicted of high treason in Ukraine on Jan. 24, says he has been removed from the Interpol wanted list, and can travel abroad from Russia, where he fled on Feb. 22, 2014 amid the EuroMaidan Revolution.
“I move freely within the territory of Russia,” Yanukovych said at a press conference in Moscow, Russia on Feb. 6. “Moreover, I’m not in any databases of Interpol. And I can travel to any country in the world.”
The ex-president added that a few days ago he returned to Russia from abroad, where he was undergoing medical treatment.
Larysa Sargan, a spokeswoman of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, confirms that Interpol has removed Yanukovych from its wanted list because it views his conviction by Ukrainian court as politically motivated.
“Yes, he is not on Interpol’s wanted list, because Interpol believes that it’s political persecution, and has removed Yanukovych from the search. He is not the Interpol’s database,” Sargan told Ukrinform.
Obolon District Court in Kyiv found Yanukovych guilty of high treason and abetting Russia in waging a war against Ukraine in 2014. Yanukovych was acquitted on one charge of infringement on Ukraine’s territorial integrity with the aim of separatism. He was sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment in absentia.
Yanukovych himself said that the court verdict against him is unlawful.
“The verdict was dictated by the authorities, and the pressure put on the court was unprecedented. The sentence has nothing to do with the law: sheer violations. Everything is built on lies and hatred,” Yanukovych said at the press conference in Moscow.
The trial of Yanukovych lasted for one-and-a-half years, since May 2017. In 2014, the government of Ukraine amended the Criminal Code allowing pre-trial investigation and trial without the physical presence of a defendant.
Yanukovuch gave his court testimony over video link. Three days before he was supposed to give his final statement, on Nov. 19, 2018, he was reportedly hospitalized after sustaining a serious back injury and a knee injury while playing tennis in the Moscow suburbs, Russia’s Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid reported on Nov. 18.
Yanukovych is unlikely to serve his term in jail as he remains in Russia, where he fled in February 2014 during the EuroMaidan protests. The demonstrations erupted a few months earlier after he refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union and decided to strengthen ties with Russia instead.
