Reformer of the week – Vitaly Ustymenko
Vitaly Ustymenko, a member of the AutoMaidan civil-society group from Odesa, was assaulted by pro-government thugs, or titushki, on Feb. 15.
Ustymenko is one of Odesa’s most prominent anti-corruption activists.
He was beaten during an arrest hearing for Odesa Mayor Hennady Trukhanov in a corruption case.
Ustymenko was attacked by pro-Trukhanov thugs after criticizing the court for releasing Trukhanov without bail and calling him a corrupt official and pro-Russian separatist.
He accused Denys Balukh, a member of Odesa’s city council from Trukhanov’s party, of organizing the assault. Balukh was not available for comment. Ustymenko said that Oleksandr Ivanitsky, another member of Odesa’s city council from Trukhanov’s city council, had also hit him.
Trukhanov is accused of embezzlement worth Hr 100 million.
In November, documentary evidence emerged that Trukhanov is a Russian citizen, according to the database on the site of Russia’s Federal Tax Service. The database shows his name, date of birth, Russian passport number and Russian individual tax number. Trukhanov denied having a Russian passport.
Lawmakers Yegor Firsov and Volodymyr Aryev previously published what they said were documents from Russia’s Federal Migration Service, according to which Trukhanov has two Russian passports: one issued in Moscow Oblast and another in the republic of Dagestan.
Trukhanov has also been accused of organizing and financing pro-Russian separatists in Odesa in 2014 – an accusation that he denies. Documents published by Slidstvo.info show that Trukhanov owns a hidden network of offshore firms that control companies that have received city contracts.
Trukhanov associates and Odesa businessmen Alexander Angert and Vladimir Galanternik have been accused of spearheading corruption in Odesa, and according to an Italian police dossier were members of a mafia gang in the 1990s. Trukhanov, Angert and Galanternik deny accusations of wrongdoing.
Larysa Golnyk, a whistleblower judge in Poltava, as well as Radio Liberty journalist Mykhailo Tkach, and Kharkiv-based anti-corruption activists Dmytro Bulakh and Yevhen Lisichkin, have also been attacked and beaten in recent months.
Anti-reformer of the week – Oleh Linnyk
Oleh Linnyk, a judge of Kyiv’s Shevchenkivsky District Court, symbolizes the lack of progress in the investigations into the murders of more than 100 protesters during the 2013-2014 EuroMaidan Revolution.
In December, Linnyk triggered a controversy by giving a 4-year suspended sentence to Yuriy Krysin, a leader of a group of pro-government thugs, or titushki, who killed journalist Vyacheslav Veremiy four years ago – on Feb. 19, 2014.
Linnyk seemed not to take into account the fact that Krysin had taken part in a shootout in Kyiv in 2015 and had been given a 1-year suspended sentence for that. Nor did he pay attention to the fact that Krysin was charged in 2016 with attacking a gas station and organizing another shootout, but was released from custody.
Linnyk denies the accusations of wrongdoing, claiming that his verdict was fair.
He also on Dec. 26 released from a detention facility and placed under house arrest two titushki charged with a murder attempt on six people on Feb. 18, 2014.
Linnyk is himself accused of unlawfully trying AutoMaidan activists. The High Council of Justice has refused to fire Linnyk after dragging its feet on his dismissal and claiming that the term for it had expired.
Ironically, Linnyk used to try another judge charged with persecuting EuroMaidan protesters, Viktor Kytsyuk, until Linnyk was recused from the case.
Linnyk also failed to declare any real estate in his 2014, 2015 and 2016 asset declarations.
A person with the same name with the same appearance on Russia’s Odnoklassniki social network has actively promoted pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian propaganda. It is not clear if it is his authentic account.
Meanwhile, in December President Petro Poroshenko also appointed for life three judges accused of unlawfully trying EuroMaidan activists.
In November Roman Truba, a controversial official who prosecuted EuroMaidan activists for taking part in a protest in 2013, became the head of the State Investigation Bureau.
Meanwhile, Viktor Klymenko, a prosecutor who was in charge of a case against then opposition politician Yury Lutsenko under ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, has been promoted to a top job at the Kyiv prosecutor’s office and is still on his job. He has also managed to buy a government apartment for Hr 10.
The Lutsenko case has been recognized as political by Ukrainian and European authorities.
In November Poroshenko also appointed Vyacheslav Nastavny, a judge who participated in the political persecution of Lutsenko, to the Supreme Court.
