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Reformer of the week – Kateryna Gandziuk
Kateryna Gandziuk, a whistleblower and aide to Kherson Mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, was attacked with acid on July 31.
The Security Service of Ukraine on Aug. 7 opened an investigation into Gandziuk’s attempted murder. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, law enforcement and other government officials and pro-Russian separatists are suspected of organizing the murder attempt.
Masi Nayyem, a Kyiv-based activist and lawyer, said he had “no doubts” that the acid assault on Gandziuk was instigated by “local pro-Russian forces like thug Kyryl Stremusov, who is a socialist from the party of Ilya Kiva,” a notorious ex-adviser to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and current head of the Interior Ministry’s labor union. Stremusov has denied the accusations.
Interior Ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko declined to comment. Commenting on the accusations, Kiva first lashed out at Gandziuk, accusing her of corruption, but then denied his party’s involvement in the attack.
Gandziuk, who is known for her pro-Ukrainian views, has been highly critical of local police and pro-Russian politicians.
In 2017 Gandziuk accused Kherson Oblast Police Chief Artyom Antoshchyuk of extorting a bribe. He denies the accusations.
On Aug. 3, a suspect in the Gandziuk case, Mykola Novikov, was arrested by the police.
Anti-reformer of the week – Oleh Valendyuk
President Petro Poroshenko on July 31 appointed prosecutor Oleh Valendyuk head of the Security Service of Ukraine’s Kyiv branch.
Valendyuk and the Presidential Administration did not respond to requests for comment.
But Tetiana Kozachenko, ex-head of the Justice Ministry’s lustration department, believes Valendyuk, who is subject to dismissal under the lustration law on firing top officials who served under ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, has no right to hold government jobs.
He is subject to lustration because he was a deputy head of the prosecutorial department for representation in court and the enforcement of court rulings under Yanukovych. Even Valendyuk has said that his position was subject to lustration. He told RFE/RL in 2015, however, that he had been formally a deputy head of the department, but “de facto” only headed a sub-unit of the department – a claim that has raised eyebrows.
In 2014 the Prosecutor General’s Office said that Valendyuk should be fired under the lustration law. However, Judge Viktor Danylyshyn banned his dismissal. Danylyshyn could himself be subject to lustration because he issued rulings against EuroMaidan activists.
Valendyuk has been lambasted for overseeing criminal cases against EuroMaidan protesters. On the eve of the murder of dozens of demonstrators in central Kyiv on Feb. 20, 2014, Yanukovych’s prosecutor general, Viktor Pshonka, gave him a bonus for taking “an active role” in cracking down on protesters.
Oleksandr Hranovsky, a controversial grey cardinal of Poroshenko accused of influencing law enforcement, has admitted being acquainted with Valendyuk.
Valendyuk was the acting chief prosecutor of Kyiv in 2015 to 2016.
Poroshenko and other officials have sabotaged the lustration law by refusing to fire top Presidential Administration official Oleksiy Dniprov, Kirovohrad Oblast Governor Serhiy Kuzmenko, Luhansk Oblast Governor Yuriy Harbuz, top Security Service of Ukraine officials Grigory Ostafiychuk and Oleksandr Dovzhenko, Odesa Oblast Deputy Governor Oleksandr Tereshchuk, Kyiv tax office chief Lyudmila Demchenko, top Interior Ministry official Vasyl Nevolya and State Judicial Administration Chief Zenovy Kholodnyuk, according to the Justice Ministry’s lustration department. The authorities deny claims they have sabotaged the lustration process.
