June 12, 2020

June 16, 2005

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Fifteen years ago, on June 16, 2005, Viktor Medvedchuk, who headed the Social Democratic Party United (SDPU), responded to the possibility of his arrest as an ally of former President Leonid Kuch­ma and for his suspected role in corruption schemes in Ukraine.

Mr. Medvedchuk, in an interview with Ukrayinska Pravda, said he was not ready to flee abroad to escape prosecution, as many of his fellow pro-Kuchma allies had done. He said he would under no circumstances leave Ukraine, that he would remain as party leader and that he was prepared for his legal defense.

Two other SDPU national deputies – Ihor Pluzhnykov, president of Inter Television, and Volodymyr Satsiuk, second deputy SDPU leader and deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine – had fled abroad to seek “health treatment.”

It was at Mr. Satsiuk’s house on September 5, 2004, that President Viktor Yushchenko, then a presidential candidate, had become ill after eating dinner there. Mr. Satsiuk was being sought for his illegal sale of SBU property, forgery of his military credentials to advance his position at the SBU and for questioning in the poisoning of Mr. Yushchenko. An international warrant was issued to Interpol for Mr. Satsiuk’s arrest.

Mr. Medvedchuk’s cool optimism was explained in three ways: first, as a lawyer and head of the Union of Ukrainian lawyers, he expected to mount a good defense; second, he felt he had not left a trail of evidence that would incriminate himself; and third, he believed his role in the SDPU and his party allies would not incriminate him by agreeing to plea-bargain deals to reduce their own sentences.

Ivan Rizak, former Zakarpattia Oblast chairman and an SDPU leader who was arrested in May 2005, was promised leniency on charges of extortion, links to organized crime, election fraud and corruption in return for providing evidence against Mr. Medvedchuk. The prosecution was led by National Security and Defense Council Secretary Petro Poroshenko.

Today, Mr. Medvedchuk is chairman of the pro-Russia political organization Ukrainian Choice and is against Ukraine joining the European Union. Russian President Vladimir Putin is the godfather to Mr. Medvedchuk’s daughter. Mr. Medvedchuk also is chairman of the political council of the For Life political party, which later merged with the Opposition Platform – For Life party that succeeded the pro-Russia Party of Regions.

Source: “SDPU leader Medvedchuk, Kuchma ally, awaits his fate,” by Taras Kuzio (Eurasia Daily Monitor), The Ukrainian Weekly, June 26, 2005.

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