Former Ukrainian President and fugitive Viktor Yanukovych received his second sentence in a Ukrainian court: 15 years in prison for incitement to desertion and organising illegal cross-border trafficking.
“Following a public prosecution by prosecutors of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the fourth President of Ukraine and former Deputy Head of the State Protection Department of Ukraine – Head of the Presidential Security Service of Ukraine – were sentenced,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.
The Podilskyy District Court of Kyiv found them guilty of committing the crimes and sentenced them to the following penalties:
- the former president of Ukraine – 15 years in prison for organising the illegal transfer of persons across the state border of Ukraine and incitement to desertion (part 2 of Article 332, part 4 of Article 27, part 2 of Article 408 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
- the former deputy head of the Ukrainian Penitentiary Service was sentenced to 10 years in prison for organising the illegal transfer of persons across the state border of Ukraine and desertion (Article 332(2), Article 408(2) of the Criminal Code).
The former deputy head of the parole office is Kostyantyn Kobzar.
Prosecutors from the Maidan Department requested 15 and 10 years’ imprisonment respectively. The court agreed that the charges were substantiated and proved, and sentenced them to the maximum possible punishment.
The court proved that on 23 February 2014, the former president of Ukraine, in collusion with the former head of the Security Service and representatives of the Russian Federation, illegally crossed the state border of Ukraine by air and organised the transfer of at least 20 people from his inner circle and parole officers. They took off in three Russian military helicopters piloted by a pilot of the Russian Armed Forces from the outskirts of Urzuf village, Mangush district, Donetsk Region, towards the Russian Federation, to the military airfield in the city of Yeysk.
After staying there for some time, they flew to Anapa, and from there, on a military transport aircraft provided by representatives of the Russian Armed Forces, they headed to the Gvardiyske military airfield in Crimea. Subsequently, the former president decided to leave Ukraine for good and, while staying on the territory of the military unit of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the area of Kozacha Bay in Sevastopol, incited the Ukrainian parole officers who provided his personal security to desert and leave for Russia. The ex-president was taken from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea by the Russian military.
As a result, a number of state security officers left Sevastopol for Russia with Yanukovych. They did not return to military service.
The route of the fugitive president’s movement through the territory of Ukraine and Russia was drawn up, fully controlled and accompanied by the federal security service and the military of the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation. It was coordinated directly with the President of Russia.
The case was considered under the procedure of special court proceedings in absentia (in the absence of the accused), as the persons are fugitives from justice.
- This is the second sentence for the former president. In January 2019, he was convicted of high treason and aiding and abetting in the conduct of an aggressive war (Article 111(1), Article 27(5), Article 437(2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
- Earlier, 15 former employees of the Presidential Security Service of Ukraine of the State Protection Department were also served with a notice of suspicion on the fact of desertion (part 2 of Article 408 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).