Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and the former head of his security service Konstantin Kobzar will be tried in absentia in the case of illegal border crossing and incitement to desertion. On this subject reported press service of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine in its telegram channel.
According to investigators, on February 23, 2014, Yanukovych and Kobzar, together with representatives of Russia, illegally crossed the Ukrainian border twice and transported at least 20 people there. The transfer was carried out by “air and sea vessels of the naval forces of the aggressor state”, the agency said.
On the same day, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, Yanukovych, while on the territory of the military unit of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, instigated military personnel of the Ukrainian Department for the Protection of the state to desert.
Based on the elements of the case, it was decided to initiate special legal proceedings against the former president and the former head of his bodyguards, the attorney general’s office said. “The court’s adoption of this decision allows for a trial and a final decision on the charge without the participation of the defendants,” the report said.
Viktor Yanukovych was President of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. After Euromaidan, he left for Russia. In October 2016, the new Ukrainian authorities stripped Yanukovych of the title of president and, a month later, announced the initiation of criminal proceedings against him in absentia for treason.
In August 2018, Ukraine’s Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office asked the court to sentence Yanukovych to 15 years in prison. In 2019, a Kiev court in a treason case sentenced him in absentia to 13 years in prison.
In August 2021, Yanukovych said the Ukraine-Russia partnership was seen in the United States as a threat to Moscow’s return to world politics. The former Ukrainian president explained that “the signal for the beginning of the illegal seizure of power and anti-Russian hysteria” was ponement of the signing of the association agreement with the European Union.
In December 2022, the Anti-Corruption High Court (VAKS) of Ukraine decided to seize all of Yanukovych’s assets for state revenue. In particular, it was a residence in Mezhyhirya, a hotel and restaurant complex in Sukholuchya, an apartment on the embankment of Obolonska, a parking space, 31 million UAH and 84.9 thousand dollars of bank accounts, as well as 100% of the shares of the authorized capital of Tantalit” and “Maison du Forestier”.
In addition, more than 500 cultural assets were confiscated from the former Ukrainian ruler, including books, icons, paintings, antique furniture, clocks, vases, sabers, guns and a 19th century cannon, by court order.
