Criminal proceedings initiated on Jan. 22, in which U.S. President Joseph Biden and fifth President of Ukraine (2014-2019), leader of the European Solidarity party Petro Poroshenko, appeared, are now closed, the press service of European Solidarity said, with reference to Poroshenko’s lawyers on Feb. 3.
According to a statement released on the party’s website, Poroshenko’s lawyers said that after the inauguration of Biden, by the decision of Pechersky District Court of Kyiv, the proceedings were initiated in which the names of Biden and Poroshenko appeared. By the court decision, the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) was obliged to register two more proceedings.
“This decision was made in an emergency manner on Jan. 22, that is, when President Biden started to fulfill the duties of the President of the United States. According to our information, these proceedings, which were recently hastily initiated, have already been closed,” lawyer Illia Novikov said.
“We see that when it comes not just about investigations that may harm the interests of the state, but also about investigations that become personally unsafe and inconvenient for the leadership of law enforcement agencies, they make obvious decisions quickly and without unnecessary talk,” the European Solidarity leader’s defender said.
According to him, on Feb. 1, the Appellate Chamber within the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) confirmed the decision to close the proceedings at the request of MP Andriy Derkach, which was investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). “The Court of Appeal confirmed the HACC decision to close the proceedings at the request of MP Derkach, which is known as the Biden-Poroshenko case and was investigated by NABU,” European Solidarity said, citing Novikov.
In turn, lawyer Ihor Holovan said: “We are raising the issue of bringing Derkach to justice, we are raising the issue of bringing Dubinsky [MP Oleksandr Dubinsky] to justice for their libel.”
According to Holovan, their information contains deliberately untrue reports of the crime, “this is an activity aimed at promoting the subversive activities of the aggressor state and against Ukrainian interests.”
