Victor Yanukovych to testify via video conference on Novermber 25 2016

[Hindustani78]

http://uatoday.tv/politics/russia-extends-asylum-for-yanukovych-till-october-2017-827668.html

Yanukovych's lawyer says opposes allegations of state treason by his client

Russian authorities have extended interim asylum for ousted former Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych, the Ukrainska Pravda outlet reports.

A document scan provided by Yanukovych's lawyer Vitaliy Serdiuk, says an ousted ex-president's refugee status in Russia has been extended until October 26, 2017.

According to the papers, Yanukovych has been officially registered in the Sovetsky district in the city of Rostov-on-Don.

These documents have been sent to Ukrainian prosecutor general office, as a response towards suspicion in state treason delivered towards Victor Yanukovych on November 28.


Victor Yanukovych fled to Russia in late February 2014, amid mass protests over government-orchestrated Maidan massacres. Russia refuses to extradite Yanukovych to Ukrainian judgement that is charging the ousted ex-president with corruption and mass manslaughter.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/economic/389892.html

10.12.2016
The Federal Council of Switzerland has decided to extend by one year the freezing of all the assets in Switzerland of ousted president of Ukraine (Viktor Yanukovych) as well as of politically exposed members of their entourages and other persons closely associated with them.

The Federal Council made this decision on Friday, December 9.

"The aim of this decision is to give more time for the criminal investigations under way and to support judicial cooperation with the countries concerned. It also takes into account the political changes taking place in these countries," the Federal Council of Switzerland said in a statement posted on its official website.

In the case of Ukraine the situation is different because the initial freeze took place more recently, the report says. "It was ordered by the Federal Council in 2014 for a period of three years, which means that it expires for the first time in February 2017. Assets amounting to approximately CHF 70 million are involved," the Federal Council said.

"Criminal investigations have also been initiated against a large number of individuals targeted by this measure and several requests for mutual legal assistance have been addressed to Switzerland. Although these requests have resulted in significant interim findings, more time is needed to enable the ongoing criminal proceedings to be concluded. The freeze imposed by the Federal Council therefore fulfils its purpose in every sense, which suggests that it will be prolonged for a further year," the statement reads.

Shortly before the three freezes expire at the beginning of 2018, the Federal Council will re-evaluate the situation in each of the three countries concerned. It will then decide whether the freezes on these assets will be prolonged on the basis of the progress made in the respective legal proceedings.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://uatoday.tv/politics/russian-...idan-was-a-coup-d-etat-in-ukraine-847448.html

Former Yanukovych regime official asks a Russian court to announce Ukrainian revolution a coup d'etat

Dorogomilovsky district court of Moscow has launched trials on recognising 2014 Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine "a coup d'etat".

The claim in a Russian court was initiated by former Ukraine's Party of Regions parliamentarian Volodymyr Oliinyk, who had fled to Russia.

Previously, the Ukraine's General Prosecution refused to initiate a case on the same matter. Oliinyk himself called this decision "an evidence of power grab".

"Those are the deeds aimed at forced constitutional alteration or seizing power. In the vernacular, it is called a coup d'etat," Oliinyk is quoted as saying by the Meduza outlet.

Germany's foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, France's Constitutional Council head Laurent Fabius, former Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorsky, ousted Ukraine's ex-president Victor Yanukovych and the present Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko are noted as persons concerned for the case.

Also, according to latest reports, former Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych, dismissed by the revolution in 2014, would soon participate in trials.

The events of winter 2013-2014 in Ukraine that eventually led to ousting of the then president Victor Yanukovych had started with the PM Mykola Azarov's cabinet decision to abort signing an association agreement with EU and start rapprochement with Russia. The peaceful protests on Maidan square in Kyiv were brutally dispersed by riot police, which caused countrywide outrage and new rallies in Ukraine's big cities demanding the resignation of the corrupted government and president.

In January-February 2014 the protests in Kyiv and other cities dissolved into armed conflict between police, interior troop forces and the protesters, against whom the firearms had been used. The clashes led to dozens of deaths, mainly among Maidan protesters, which caused a worldwide condemnation of the Yanukovych regime.

After the bloodbath in central Kyiv, Victor Yanukovych fled to Russia on February 22, 2014, having called on Russian president Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine and suppress the pro-democratic rebellion. Given this, the Ukrainian parliament announced Yanukovych dismissed from the presidency and scheduled new presidential elections on May 25, 2014. He is still hiding out in Russia up to date.

Russia's annexation of Crimea and invasion in Donbas followed the winter 2014 revolution in Ukraine.

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http://uatoday.tv/crime/kyiv-court-allows-arrest-of-yanukovych-847733.html

Ukraine's Prosecutor General says his office is "working on bringing the disgraced ex-president to justice, and the process is moving forward"

On December 14, Kyiv Pechersk district court authorized the arrest of Ukraine's ex-president Viktor Yanukovych and ruled that he should be brought to court.

The news was reported by Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko on his social media page.

According to Lutsenko, in this way, the court upheld a motion brought by the military prosecutor Volodymyr Kryvenko, who asked for permission to arrest Yanukovych.


As earlier reported, on December 9 Yanukovych's lawyer Vitaliy Serdiuk returned his client's suspicion notice issued by the Prosecutor General's Office, arguing that breach of legislation took place when the suspicion was announced.

The lawyer has also published documents stating that Yanukovych has a temporary asylum in Russia's city of Rostov-on-Don until October 26, 2017.


Prosecutor General's Office, in its turn, insisted that the fugitive president still has a suspect status.

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http://www.unian.info/war/1680872-u...vilian-killed-in-donbas-in-past-24-hours.html

No Ukrainian soldiers were killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours, except one civilian, according to a Ukrainian defense ministry spokesman.

"There were no killed in action (KIA) or wounded in action (WIA) as a result of militant shelling. However, one civilian was killed due to an armed provocation by militants, and another one had a wound to his arm," Defense Ministry speaker for Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) issues Oleksandr Motuzianyk said at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday, December 15, a UNIAN correspondent reported.


Motuzianyk expressed condolences to the family of the deceased. "The Ukrainian authorities are doing everything to probe into the circumstances of the tragedy," he added.

In addition, Motuzianyk said that a local resident had been injured as a result of a missile explosion in the town of Maryinka.

As UNIAN reported earlier, combined Russian-separatist forces on Wednesday attacked the Mayorsk entry and exit checkpoint in Donetsk region, as a result of which one person was killed and another one was wounded.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://uatoday.tv/crime/yanukovych-era-ex-official-commits-suicide-to-avoid-arrest-851578.html
Ex-deputy head of Naftogaz from Yanukovych team shoots himself as law enforcers try to arrest him


Former deputy head of Naftogaz of Ukraine energy holding, who had been in office at the time of Viktor Yanukovych presidency, Hennady Yuriev, has committed suicide in his home in Vinnytsia region, UNIAN reports citing the press secretary of Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko.

It is noted that today, December 21, military prosecutors have come to his house to detain the former official. "After the group of investigators entered one of the searched premises, they found a body of the former deputy head of Naftogaz of Ukraine, who seems to have made a shot from a firearm at the time of the entry," press secretary Larysa Sarhan wrote on Facebook.

The law enforcers intended to arrest Yuriev in a criminal case for ‘embezzlement of property or its seizure through the abuse of power, in especially large amounts'. "The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine in the framework of criminal proceedings into the fact of embezzlement of funds of Chornomornaftogaz by Naftogaz of Ukraine during the purchase of self-elevating floating drilling facilities (so-called 'Boiko rigs' due to their owner, former Energy Minister of Yanukovych era Yurii Boiko, now member of pro-Russian ‘Opposition Block' - UT) conducted a series of searches," said Sarhan.


According to Cenzor.net, Yuriev was put on the wanted list on Sept. 30 and has been in hiding, his arrest was part of the military prosecutor's office and SBU operation on detention of four defendants in the case.

Military prosecutors revealed possible residence of Yuriev. This morning the yard of the house where Yuriev could possibly hide was entered by the military prosecutors, SBU officers, representatives of the state security company that has been contracted to guard the house, and witnesses to the search. Upon entering, they heard a sound of a shot. Inside the house, they found the body of a man, presumably Hennadii Yuriev. A hunting rifle was found near him.

According to available information, the detention of the other three defendants was successful. Investigation continues.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/395520.html

Yanukovych and former ex-Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko in the so-called "church case," according to a report published by the Kyiv-based Ukrayinska Pravda Internet publication.

"The court on January 3, based on a notice provided by the Prosecutor General's Office, gave permission to arrest Yanukovych and handed down a similar ruling for Zakharchenko, as well as authorized the arrest of Valeriy Koriak, former head of the Kyiv militia," the article says, which was published on Saturday evening.

"The suspects are hiding from investigators and the court. In order to avoid destruction of evidence and influence on the aggrieved parties and experts, the [PGO] investigator believes that the suspects should be arrested and brought to court to determine pretrial confinement," the PGO investigator is quoted as saying.

Former Ukrainian politicians Zakharchenko, Yanukovych and Koriak are suspected of illegally detaining Oleksandr Drabynko, the assistant of the late head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) Volodymyr. Investigators believe Yanukovych and his coterie pressured the late Volodymyr to resign from his position.

Verkhovna Rada deputy Vadym Novinsky is also a suspect in the case, as well as the commander and deputy of the Interior Ministry's "Grifon" police unit in Kyiv. There is no information about permission to detain the figures in the case, according to Ukrayinska Pravda's website.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/397941.html

Judge Khrystyna Tarasiuk of Kyiv's Pechersky District Court ruled on Friday evening to grant a request by an investigator from a military prosecutor's office on sanctioning a special pretrial investigation (in absentia) in a high treason case against former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

The ruling is not subject to appeal.

Interfax Ru

11:15
Kyiv court authorizes investigation in high treason case against Yanukovych

 

[Hindustani78]

February 15, 2017

22:20
Kyiv court gives Yanukovych's lawyers 17 days to study files in high treason case

 

[Hindustani78]

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/404787.html

Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has proposed a set of measures towards settling the conflict in eastern Ukraine and suggested that a referendum on Donbas's status should be held in case Kyiv fails to implement the Minsk Agreements.

"To engage representatives of the protesting side representing the Donbas people in the Normandy format negotiations and to initiate a referendum on Donbas's status in case the incumbent Ukrainian authorities fail to implement the Minsk agreements," Yanukovych said in listing his suggestions in an open letter to the leaders of Poland, France and Germany, heads of non-governmental organizations, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and U.S. President Donald Trump.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://zeenews.india.com/world/austria-detains-ukraine-tycoon-after-extradition-ruling_1980000.html

Vienna: Austria has arrested one of Ukraine's richest men, a fresh twist for the one-time ally of ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.

Gas magnate Dmytro Firtash was taken into custody over alleged links to organised crime in Spain, moments after a Vienna court ruled he could be extradited to the US on corruption charges.

Firtash, 51, made money through connections with Russian gas giant Gazprom, and was at one time linked to a former campaign aide of US President Donald Trump.

He is wanted in the US over charges that he and five others paid USD 18.5 million in bribes to officials in India to secure titanium mining licences in 2006.

The United States argues it has jursidiction because the conspiracy involved using US financial institutions, travel to and from the US, and use of US-based communications -- computers, telephones, and the internet.

Firtash was arrested in Vienna in March 2014, but released on a record Austrian bail of 125 million euros (USD 130 million).

He has denied all charges and maintained he was the victim of a smear campaign.

His legal team argued that he was caught up in a larger battle over the future of Ukraine, where the government has been engaged in bloody fighting with Russian-backed separatists in the east since 2014.

Authorities in Barcelona issued a European arrest warrant in November 2016, with media reports saying Firtash was accused of belonging to a criminal organisation which had laundered 10 million euros (USD 10.5 million) in Spain.

But when the warrant was issued, the tycoon was already under house arrest in Austria over the US allegations.

A lower court in Vienna sided with the tycoon in April 2015 and rejected the US request.

But the appeals court said yesterday the US had provided "sufficient" proof that Firtash "may have committed the crimes he is accused of".

The prosecutor's office refused to comment on the Spanish case or how Firtash's arrest would affect the extradition ruling.

Austria's Justice Minister Wolfgang Brandstetter told broadcaster ORF the extradition would not be implemented until a court had reviewed the Spanish case.

Firtash owns Group DF, a business empire involved in energy, chemicals, media, banking and property in Ukraine and other countries including Germany, Italy and Austria.

He made his fortune importing gas to Ukraine from Russia and Central Asia via his group Rosukrenergo, since disbanded, in collaboration with Russian gas giant Gazprom.

Having backed the 2010 election campaign of Yanukovych, Firtash was able to expand his business interests, acquiring chemicals and fertiliser factories as well as TV channel Inter.


First Published: Wednesday, February 22, 2017 - 15:49

 

[Hindustani78]

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/405266.html

Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash, who was released on Thursday by a court on a bail of EUR125 million and a promise to remain in Austria as part of a case over his extradition to Spain, was immediately re-arrested as part of a case over his extradition to the United States, according to Austrian media reports, which were confirmed by the businessman's lawyers.

The court is to decide on a measure of restraint for Firtash in the "American" case on Friday, February 24.

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http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/405219.html
The Land Court of Vienna, having considered the request of Spain for the extradition of Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash, on February 23 decided to release him without additional bail, according to a report by Firtash's lawyers.

According to the report, the businessman surrendered his foreign passport.

As reported, the chairman of the group of companies Group DF Firtash Council has been arrested in Austria March 12, 2014 at the request of US authorities. During the previous US administration Ukrainian businessman accused that he bribes totaling $ 18.5 million, would receive a permit for the extraction of titanium raw materials in India for subsequent sale of finished products in the United States.

As reported, chairman of Group DF Dmytro Firtash was arrested in Austria on March 12, 2014 at the request of U.S. authorities. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the accused attempted to pay a bribe worth $18.5 million to receive a permit for mining operations in India.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/405480.html

The Vienna Regional Court for Criminal Matters has dismissed a demand of the prosecutor's office of Vienna to put Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash in custody in the framework of the case for his extradition to the United States at the request of American authorities, a source familiar with the matter told Interfax-Ukraine.

"A petition of the prosecutor's office in Vienna for the extradition arrest has not been satisfied, because in 2014, EUR 125 million of bail were fully paid to the court, and the defendant undertook a commitment to regularly come to the court, not to leave the country and to surrender his foreign travel passport to the court, same as in the proceedings based on the Spanish warrant for his arrest," the Austrian newspaper Kurier quoted the court's ruling.

"This ruling and the release on bail are valid until the actual handover of Firtash to the U.S, authorities," the newspaper said.

The Austrian news agency APA said that the prosecutor's office has 14 days to appeal this ruling at the Higher Regional Court of Vienna.

As reported, after the court dismissed on February 23, 2017, Spain's request for Firtash's arrest, representative of the Vienna prosecutor's office demanded the businessman be detained under the existing criminal case on his extradition to the United States.

Meanwhile, Firtash's defense lawyers argue that the Spanish investigation is not only related to the same charges which were filed by the U.S. authorities in Illinois, but also were submitted to the Spanish authorities at the instructions of the prosecutor of Chicago. "It's all part of the same story – Firtash's political persecution," the lawyer said.

Chairman of Group DF Dmytro Firtash was arrested in Austria on March 12, 2014 at the request of U.S. authorities.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the accused attempted to pay a bribe worth $18.5 million to receive a permit for mining operations in India.

The Vienna Regional Court for Criminal Matters ruled on Firtash's extradition-related arrest but then decided to release him on EUR 125 million bail on condition he would not leave Austria. On April 30, 2015, the same court ruled not to extradite Firtash to the United States.

On, February 21, the Higher Regional Court in Vienna granted the prosecution's request to extradite Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash to the U.S. at the request of U.S. authorities.

According to the ruling, the Federal Minister of Justice takes the final decision on extradition.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/415208.html

The Obolonsky District Court of Kyiv will start hearing the high treason case against former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on May 4, a court spokesman told Interfax-Ukraine.

Three judges of the Obolonsky District Court - Presiding Judge Vladyslav Deviatko, his deputy Dmytro Kambulov and Civil and Administrative Panel Judge Maksym Tytov - will be conducting the proceedings.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said on November 28, 2016, that Yanukovych had been implicated in high treason and encroachment on Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Yanukovych's defense team insists that the former president has not been properly indicted for high treason and it would be illegal to refer his case to court.

The Kyiv Appeals Court decided on March 28 that the Obolonsky District Court of Kyiv would be hearing the high treason case of Yanukovych.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/418696.html

The confiscated funds ($1.4 billion) of Ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and his cronies have been transferred to the accounts of the State Treasury of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.

"I have come here after the report made by the Prosecutor General and the NSDC secretary that the investigation had been completed, a court decision adopted and today at midnight it came into force on the confiscation of $1.4 billion that belonged to the former president and his clique [...] Today the button was pressed and money from blocked accounts were credited to the accounts of the State Treasury," Poroshenko said during the transfer of military equipment to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine in Kyiv on Friday.

Poroshenko also addressed the Verkhovna Rada with an appeal to make changes to the state budget of Ukraine in order to use the confiscated funds of former President Viktor Yanukovych and his entourage for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"I appealed to the government and parliament for the parliament to adopt appropriate changes to the state budget. And the first priority of using this money will be the restoration of the fighting capacity of the Ukrainian troops, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the National Guard, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the National Police," he said.

The president said that the ex-president's funds should go for the construction of an ammunition production plant, the purchase of modern electronic warfare equipment, counter battery radars, modern drones, as well as the construction of hostels for servicemen who serve under contract and military hotels for servicemen.

"It is very important that part of the funds go to the construction of a rehabilitation center for ATO soldiers who suffered during the Russian aggression. But it is also important that some of these funds go to social protection of the least protected social groups, so that they won't be eaten away, but invested in the infrastructure and serve for the Ukrainian people for many years," Poroshenko said.

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http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/economic/418809.html

State bank JSC Oschadbank has completed the confiscation of $1.5 billion of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his entourage, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has said.

"The transfer of $1.5 billion confiscated by the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine from the criminal group has been completed. Good workers of Oschadbank executed the operations through computers," Lutsenko wrote on his Facebook page.

According to him, if cash currency notes of $100 were used in this operation, this amount would weigh 15 tonnes, as an "African elephant with a cub."

"Now it's up to the government and the parliament. It is necessary that this year common Ukrainian citizens feel the result of returning these funds from the mafia," the prosecutor general said.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/468989.html

11.12.2017

Ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister and leader of the People's Front part Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said disgraced ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was working with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian officials in early February 2014 when Crimea was annexed.

"Russia's president himself confirmed this in an interview in which he said that on February 20, 2014 he gave the order to the Russian military to illegal seize and annex Ukrainian territory. This plan was executed with the participation of then President Viktor Yanukovych," Yatsenyuk said. Yatsenyuk was appearing in Kyiv's Solomiansky District Court on Monday at a hearing against Yanukovych for state treason.

Yatsenyuk said a letter addressed from Yanukovych to Putin dated March 1, 2014 was the result of the agreement between Yanukovych and Putin. The letter was meant to legitimize events transpiring in Crimea.

Yatsenyuk said he believes Yanukovych was fully dependent on Russia and personally on Putin based on his behavior as Ukrainian president, including Yanukovych's decision to sign the Kharkiv accords, and later by his refusal to sign the Ukraine-European Union Association agreement, which led to protests in Kyiv.