Donetsk tarmac terror
Another high-profile political murder with a huge question mark lingering over it is a gangland-style slaying of Yevhen Shcherban. He was among the richest people in Ukraine, a prominent and influential member of parliament. Shcherban and his wife were assassinated at Donetsk airport in November 1996. Posing as police officers, several men drove up to Shcherban’s private jet and sprayed automatic fire on the passengers as they deplaned.
Shcherban owned Aton Corporation, a trading, production and finance company which many had an eye on. Prosecutors said the hit on Shcherban was intended to eliminate competition for control of Ukraine’s natural gas industry and that many potential suspects could have been interested in his death. In 2002, eight men from the “Kushnir Gang” were arrested and tried for the 1996 murder. Yevhen Kushnir, who was considered an underworld figure in the early 1990s is believed to have been murdered while in prison in 1998. All eight men were found guilty, with three receiving life sentences. Law enforcement officials claim that former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko hired the eight men to kill Shcherban, Hetman and another Donetsk underworld leader, Akhat Bragin, all charges denied by Lazarenko.
