Says Supreme Court Justice Petro Pylypchuk

Statistics provided by he Supreme Court of Ukraine eloquently testify that the number of the gravest of felonies, murder, has increased in recent years. While in 1993, a total of 2,623 premeditated murder cases were heard, 1997 saw a 29.1% increase. As a rule, most of the perpetrators fall under Article 94 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, first degree murder.

“There are also changes in the quantitative characteristics of these most dangerous crimes,” says Supreme Court Justice Petro Pylypchuk. “There is a steadily increasing number of women involved: from 8.8% in 1993 to 12% in 1997, including 3-6% of female minors, and 20-26% gang slayings.”

Experts claim the murders are often perpetrated without any obvious reasons. Thus, in the case of the serial murderer Anatoly Onopriyenko who became infamous virtually throughout Europe, one is struck by an episode. While killing people for reasons of crime income can be theoretically explained (in Onopriyenko's case the losses amount to some 8 billion old karbovantsi), murdering a 3- month-old remains inexplicable, considering the forensic medical statement. The Kyiv District Court convicted 17-year-old boys P. and O. For murdering their friend. And the two carefully planned the crime. It later transpired that the victim owed them two [!] hryvnias.

Investigating officers have on more than one occasion pointed to the mounting cruelty of such crimes. Many still remember the Donetsk case, where four minors aged 15, 14, and 13, tortured 8- year-old H. for two days before killing him.

“Contract killing has been becoming increasingly popular in recent years. It is an especially dangerous type of homicide. And motivation increasingly often has to do with the struggle for influence spheres between businesses and gangs, between the shadow economy and organized crime,” says Mr. Pylypchuk. This kind of “competition” led to perfecting the no-man-no-problem principle and reveals unhealthy trends in various walks of life, spreading pro rata the quality of economic “reforms” in Ukraine. While 87 contract jobs were registered in 1993, there were 210 in 1995 (2.4 times), and over 100 in 1996 (courtesy of the Internal Affairs Ministry). Over the past five years, actually throughout Leonid Kuchma's presidency, several noted politicians and business people have fallen prey to trigger-men and no one has been brought to justice.

Thus in July 1996: an attempt was made on Pavlo Lazarenko , then Prime Minister (an explosive charge detonated several meters from the Premier's motorcade; Mr. Lazarenko was unharmed).

November 4, 1996: Yevhen Shcherban, Liberal Party leader and people's Deputy, gunned down near the ramp of his airplane by several unidentified perpetrators; law enforcement authorities rule out political motivation and concentrate on the criminal aspect.

December 2, 1997: Arkady Tabachnyk , director general of the Bipa Moda joint venture, and his bodyguard are shot in Odesa; everything points to a contract job. In the summer, Borys Derevyanko, editor of the Vecherniaya Odessa (Evening Odesa), is murdered. The perpetrators are caught, tried, and sentenced to death, yet no customer is punished.

February 5, 1998: an attempt on Oleksandr Safontsev , First Deputy Chairman of the Crimean Council of Ministers, and he was mortally wounded by a bomb planted in a refuse container and detonated just as he was stepping out of his car. Several complicated operations followed but did not help and he died. The Day was told by Oleksandr Dombrovsky of the Crimean militia's public relations that this was perhaps the only assassination where the person taking out the contract was established (leaders of the Party for Economic Rebirth of the Crimea) but were never brought to justice under criminal law, although the perpetrators (the Salem Co., headed by Oleksandr Saikov, known by the underworld alias of Gruzin , (Georgian) will face the court before the end of this year. Mr. Dombrovsky added that the customers are either hiding (Supruniuk) or occupy convenient posts (Danelian is Premier in Nagorno- Karabakh; Sheviov fled from the Crimea and became manager of one of Yerevan's largest cable plants).

Ukrainian Stock Exchange chairman Vadym Hetman was murdered by several unidentified persons in elevator on the way to his apartment on the night of April 22, 1997. Mykhailo Korniyenko, chief of the capital's militia, say there is evidence pointing to Russia.

An attempt on Serhiy Odarych , chief editor of the newspaper My (We), president of the Ukrainian Perspectives Foundation, was made July 30, 1998.

Rukh leader Vyacheslav Chornovil died in a mysterious road accident on March 26, 1999. And this spring the Ukrainian public was shocked by the contract murders of Borys Vikhrov , head of Odesa's court of arbitration, and Ihor Bondar , director general of Odesa's ANT Television Company.

An attempt on Mykola Pidmohylny , head of Kyiv's Zhovtnevy District state administration, took place April on 13.

The Crimean Republic Committee of CPU was demolished on May 22.

October 1: a contract job done on Bohdan Oliynyk , People's Deputy and head of the Southwest Railroad Administration.

October 2: the attempt on People's Deputy and presidential candidate Natalia Vitrenko .

The increasing number of murders was reflected in the Criminal Code. Contrary to Ukraine's commitments to the Council of Europe, from which Ukraine could be excluded, Verkhovna Rada made an amendment to death penalty Article 97, envisioning capital punishment for premeditated murder for hire and for premeditated murder committed and previously arranged by a group of persons or “organized group.” Judges, however, are of the opinion that the amendment did not provide any tangible advantages in investigating such murder cases and punishing perpetrators, let alone finding those putting out contracts.