A Legal Case without Legal Consequences

Last Tuesday a press conference was due to take place in Kyiv within the framework of the ‘Rise Up, Ukraine!’ series of actions. It was planned by the leaders of the opposition troika Yuliya Tymoshenko, Petro Symonenko, and Oleksandr Moroz and dubbed “The US Brings a Case Against Leonid Kuchma.” However, it turned out that Themis’ representatives from across the ocean were personified by the judge of a local court of appeal, Yuri Vasylenko, who read out his resolution on initiating criminal proceedings against the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma. According to Vasylenko, this decision was taken following a petition from the leaders of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Socialist Party of Ukraine, and Yuliya Tymoshenko bloc and people’s deputies Hryhory Omelchenko, Yosyp Vinsky, and Oleksandr Turchynov. The petition accuses the head of state of the abuse of power and committing a number of criminal deeds provided for in twelve Articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Later the authors of the petition showed up, although not all of them (the Socialist Party was represented by the secretary of the October 12 People’s Tribunal, Yosyp Vinsky). The country’s top Communist, Petro Symonenko, called Judge Vasylenko’s resolution “a breakthrough in democracy” capable of causing the President’s to renounce his office. Ms. Tymoshenko, in turn, tried to convince the journalists that the resolution, signed by the judge of the Kyiv Court of Appeal and submitted for consideration of the Prosecutor General’s Office, could neither be appealed nor canceled. However, it can hardly be implemented legally. People’s Deputy, Meritorious Lawyer of Ukraine Mykola Onyshchuk told The Day that initiating criminal proceeding against an inviolable person (which is the status of head of state according to the Constitution of Ukraine) is illegitimate. Thus, in the lawyer’s words, bringing to account the President of Ukraine can take place only through impeachment (recall that in September this initiative from the opposition did not receive support from people’s deputies and so far the idea of impeachment has no prospects in parliament). Member of the Commission on Legal Policy Mr. Onyshchuk also noted that the Prosecutor General’s Office has a right to withdraw criminal proceedings in case of violation of the procedure established by law. “One should take into account that Judge Vasylenko’s resolution, causing legal consequences for a specific person, can be appealed judicially, which head of the state will probably do,” Mr. Onyshchuk summed up.

Former Prosecutor General Mykhailo Potebenko, being experienced in jurisprudence, also gave his commentary on the subject. In his opinion, there are not enough grounds for initiating criminal proceedings against the President. People’s deputy Potebenko called the opposition troika’s actions “populism that does nothing good for the country.”