In line with his promise to return to Ukraine if elected to parliament, former Kharkiv Governor Arsen Avakov arrived to Boryspil airport from Rome on Dec. 11, a day before Ukraine's new legislature is due to convene.
“These 444 days outside my country were challenging for me. I want to thank all the friends who supported me. It feels great on the native land,” he told reporters upon arrival.
Avakov ran for parliament
in the Oct. 28 election on the jailed ex-Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna ticket. As a deputy, he now enjoys
immunity from prosecution, without which he would likely end in jail.
“His (Avakov’s) return [home] is
a slap for Yanukovych,” Andriy Parubiy, another oppositional
lawmaker, tweeted after greeting Avakov at the airport.
A handful of other Avakov’s allies from opposition
also came to the airport to welcome him.
Avakov, who served as Kharkiv Oblast governor from
2005-2010, fled to Italy last year fearing persecution at home. In
January Ukrainian prosecutors charged him with abuse of office –
the same Soviet-era charge that sent Tymoshenko to jail for seven
years, and former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko – to four years.
Prosecutors say that, during Avakov’s term as
Kharkiv governor, he
allegedly illegally gave out 55 hectares in land plots worth Hr 5.5
million ($687,000). The ex-governor denies the
charge and says that his signatures on the land documents are forged.
Instead, Avakov believes that he is the target of
persecution of opposition politicians, sanctioned by President Viktor
Yanukovych’s administration.
Lawmakers in Ukraine are immune from criminal
persecution. Yet a lawmaker can be stripped of immunity if the
General Prosecutor’s Office files a respective petition to
parliament and the majority of the 450-seat legislature supports it.
During Avakov’s stay in Italy Ukrainian prosecutors
have been unsuccessfully trying to extradite him to Ukraine.
General Prosecutor’s Office said on Dec. 11 that they
will not try to arrest Avakov any more. At least for now.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be
reached at [email protected]
