{"id":140579,"date":"2021-05-14T20:42:21","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T17:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/?p=140579"},"modified":"2021-05-14T20:43:19","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T17:43:19","slug":"court-places-medvedchuk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk","title":{"rendered":"Court places Medvedchuk under house arrest: what is happening?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>On May 11, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova signed an indictment for treason and attempted theft of government property in Crimea against Viktor Medvedchuk, Putin\u2019s crony and a leader of the \u201cOpposition Platform \u2013 For Life\u201d party, and Taras Kozak, MP of the same party. Also, the Security Service searched the party\u2019s office and Medvedchuk\u2019s two houses. These developments have sparked an uproar in Ukraine this week. On May 13, the court ordered Medvedchuk into house arrest during the pre-trial investigation. Are these charges linked to the sanctions on Medvedchuk that the National Security and Defense Council imposed earlier this year? What are the views of the general public? We take a closer look at the story.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Who is Medvedchuk?&nbsp;<\/strong>Viktor Medvedchuk is often called an \u00e9minence grise in Ukrainian politics, he is one of the country\u2019s pro-Russian leaders. High-level official in past administrations, Medvedchuk also chaired the executive office of the President under Leonid Kuchma\u2019s administration. He started his career in Soviet times as an attorney. In 1980, he served as a public defender provided by the government to represent Ukrainian writer and dissident Vasyl Stus. While Stus denied his guilt, Medvedchuk conceded his client guilty, a move seen by many as a violation of the lawyer\u2019s ethics.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the first decade of Ukraine\u2019s independence, Viktor Medvedchuk chaired the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united), and later an organization called \u201cThe Ukrainian Choice\u201d. In 2019, he became the chief of the political and strategic committee of the \u201cOpposition Platform \u2013 For Life\u201d (Opozytsiyna Platforma \u2013 Za Zhyttia, OPZZh) party that holds the second-largest faction in the Parliament, outnumbered only by the majority party \u201cServant of the People\u201d (Sluha Narodu). Medvedchuk has a special relationship with Putin, who is the godfather of Medvedchuk\u2019s daughter.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Medvedchuk is often considered a mediator between the government in Kyiv and the Kremlin chief. He has facilitated prisoner swaps between Russia (the militants it backs) and Ukraine a number of times, during the presidency of Petro Poroshenko.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sanctions by National Security and Defense Council.<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Sanctions imposed by the National Security and Defense Council are seen as President Zelenskyi\u2019s first move illustrative of his stance toward Medvedchuk. In February 2021, the Council sanctioned Medvedchuk\u2019s ally Taras Kozak, and thus shut down three pro-Russian TV channels he owns. Later, President Zelenskyi set in motion the sanctions against Medvedchuk and his business of transportation of petroleum products on charges of terrorism financing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What are the latest charges against Medvedchuk?<\/strong>&nbsp;The latest charges are not linked to the recent sanctions. Medvedchuk is suspected of plotting oil and gas extraction with Russia in the Black Sea. Also, in 2020, he passed to Russia the location details of a secret Ukrainian Armed Forces unit through Kozak.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Late in the evening of May 11, Medvedchuk\u2019s press service issued a statement on the searches and the indictment. The politician will not be hiding from justice and is in Ukraine, the statement reads. On May 12, Medvedchuk arrived at the Office of the Prosecutor General. On May 13, he showed up in court. The Pechersk district court of Kyiv ordered Putin\u2019s crony into 24-hour house arrest.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The court rejected the prosecutors\u2019 request for pre-trial detention with a UAH 300-million bail. He was put under house arrest until July 9, 2021. The court ordered Medvedchuk to surrender his foreign passports and wear an electronic monitoring device.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The defense asked not to impose any pre-trial measure on the defendant. Besides, Medvedchuk\u2019s fellow MPs of the OPZZh party offered themselves as guarantors for the release on bail. Commenting on the court order, Medvedchuk said he will work and give interviews from home.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reaction of the political forces and general public.&nbsp;<\/strong>Public reaction to Medvedchuk\u2019s pretrial house arrest was mild. A majority of politicians, including opposition, and experts agree that the pretrial measure is too soft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is too soft for treason charges, the public sentiment is. Denys Kazanskyi, journalist, member of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk, asks a rhetorical question: \u201cWhy do the cases involving treason, and flares and broken windows at the Office of the President share the same pretrial measure?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Journalist Bohdan Butkevych says the court decision was predictable, and warns against giving up in despair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He says Medvedchuk \u201cwas assigned the role of an oligarch whom Zelenskyi will publicly defeat.\u201d He will not flee to Russia, Butkevych adds: \u201cHe understands that his value is high as long as he is in Ukraine. In Russia, he would be even less valuable than Yanukovych.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Medvedchuk\u2019s \u201cde-legitimation\u201d is a positive outcome already, the journalist says. \u201cIt paves the way for de-legitimation of the openly pro-Russian breed in Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How will it unfold?<\/strong>&nbsp;Experts are divided over the case prospects. Some say the case has no prospects and will not advance in court. Others complement the solid stance of the government, and are hopeful of Medvedchuk\u2019s guilty verdict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Indictment against Medvedchuk, and searches in his party\u2019s office and in his house result from Washington\u2019s pressure on Ukraine to eradicate corruption, diminish oligarch\u2019s power, and unarm Russia\u2019s agents in the country, political and social sciences expert Viktor Nebozhenko told DW in an interview. That demand put Kyiv in a \u201csituation that outweighs the intellectual capacities of the Ukrainian government.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s a task that the actual president will not be able to accomplish,\u201d the expert says. According to Nebozhenko, Medvedchuk\u2019s case will get stuck in court and will not get into the final phase. \u201cThe Security Service and the Office of Prosecutor General have already done everything possible. While in Ukraine, a court of no instance is ready to fight against Medvedchuk,\u201d the expert continued.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Political expert Volodymyr Fesenko sees the prospects as dynamic and inevitable for the suspect, following the pressure mounting in the past three months. \u201cTwo factors are in play. On one hand, there is the president\u2019s political will and interest, as Medvedchuk has become his personal political foe. On other hand, his political will is shared by law enforcement following a wide public approval of the sanctions imposed by the National Security and Defense Council on Medvedchuk,\u201d Fesenko said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He finds the competition between the law enforcement and the president beneficial for Ukraine\u2019s national interest, as the Medvedchuk case is about national security. Fesenko projects further pressure from Zelenskyi and the civil society to bring the case to the sentencing phase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn the coming years, Medvedchuk will not have political future. Instead, he will need to defend himself and hide. Excluded from the political process, once the key pro-Russian figure, he will get weaker. Medvedchuk\u2019s partners will have to distance themselves from him, and create other political forces,\u201d Fesenko added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On May 11, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova signed an indictment for treason and attempted theft of government property in Crimea against Viktor Medvedchuk, Putin\u2019s crony and a leader of the \u201cOpposition Platform \u2013 For Life\u201d party, and Taras Kozak, MP of the same party. Also, the Security Service searched the party\u2019s office [&hellip;] <a class=\"g1-link g1-link-more\" href=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":140580,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[699],"tags":[],"section":[743],"form":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Court places Medvedchuk under house arrest: what is happening? | UACRISIS.ORG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On May 11, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova signed an indictment for treason and attempted theft of government property in Crimea | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court places Medvedchuk under house arrest: what is happening? | UACRISIS.ORG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On May 11, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova signed an indictment for treason and attempted theft of government property in Crimea | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-14T17:42:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-14T17:43:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/cover-2-e1621014111389.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"690\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"387\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uacrisis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uacrisis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u041c\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0430 \u0411\u0456\u043b\u0430\u0441\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Court places Medvedchuk under house arrest: what is happening? | UACRISIS.ORG","description":"On May 11, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova signed an indictment for treason and attempted theft of government property in Crimea | Uacrisis.org","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Court places Medvedchuk under house arrest: what is happening? | UACRISIS.ORG","og_description":"On May 11, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova signed an indictment for treason and attempted theft of government property in Crimea | Uacrisis.org","og_url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk","og_site_name":"Uacrisis.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/","article_published_time":"2021-05-14T17:42:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-05-14T17:43:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":690,"height":387,"url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/cover-2-e1621014111389.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@uacrisis","twitter_site":"@uacrisis","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u041c\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0430 \u0411\u0456\u043b\u0430\u0441","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization","name":"Ukraine crisis media center","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/","http:\/\/youtube.com\/UACrisisMediaCenter","https:\/\/twitter.com\/uacrisis"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#logo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/header_logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/header_logo-1.png","width":250,"height":90,"caption":"Ukraine crisis media center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#logo"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/","name":"Uacrisis.org","description":"Ukraine crisis media center","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/cover-2-e1621014111389.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/cover-2-e1621014111389.jpg","width":690,"height":387},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk#webpage","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk","name":"Court places Medvedchuk under house arrest: what is happening? | UACRISIS.ORG","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2021-05-14T17:42:21+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-14T17:43:19+00:00","description":"On May 11, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova signed an indictment for treason and attempted theft of government property in Crimea | Uacrisis.org","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430","item":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Court places Medvedchuk under house arrest: what is happening?"}]},{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk#webpage"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/78c5d7897a959f7bf7116a6ea85173d4"},"headline":"Court places Medvedchuk under house arrest: what is happening?","datePublished":"2021-05-14T17:42:21+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-14T17:43:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk#webpage"},"wordCount":1155,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/court-places-medvedchuk#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/cover-2-e1621014111389.jpg","articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/78c5d7897a959f7bf7116a6ea85173d4","name":"\u041c\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0430 \u0411\u0456\u043b\u0430\u0441"}]}},"wps_subtitle":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140579"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140579"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=140579"},{"taxonomy":"form","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/form?post=140579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}