Viktor Yushchenko was deliberately given dioxin when he was running for the Ukrainian presidency in 2004, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Oleksandr Medvedko told journalists in Kyiv on Friday.
“It was a deliberate effort to poison the presidential candidate.
That attempt on his life used a substance such as dioxin. It was
objectively confirmed by forensic examinations and witnesses who were
questioned,” Medvedko said.
The prosecutor general, however, said he could not confirm that “the criminals had been identified and brought to justice.”
“That is why, from time to time, politicians and parliamentary
deputies circulate information that no investigation is underway and
the facts of poisoning have been falsified,” he said.
“The crime has been investigated in compliance with the existing laws. We are looking into all theories,” Medvedko said.
All possible theories have been examined, including Yuschenko’s
possible poisoning as a result of plastic surgery, food poisoning and
the use of stem cells, the prosecutor general said.
“We have checked everything. Nothing has been confirmed,” he said.
On September 5, 2004, presidential candidate Yushchenko met with
senior officials of the Ukrainian Security Service, after which he felt
unwell and was taken to a hospital in Vienna on September 10. Doctors
diagnosed Yuschenko with dioxin poisoning, claiming that the substance
got into the patient’s body approximately five days before his
hospitalization. A series of examinations were carried out. The results
of a repeat test conducted in May 2006 confirmed the presence of dioxin
in Yushchenko’s blood.
