Infamous Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Yurchenko drove into another vehicle and then beat up its driver in Lviv on July 8.
Police officers suspected that Yurchenko was under the influence of drugs and delivered him to the hospital to be tested, according to Zahid.net, a local news outlet. The police didn’t reveal the results of the drug test.
As Yurchenko’s Ford Mustang was exiting a parking spot, he bumped into another car. After the accident, Yurchenko tried to escape, but the road was blocked by traffic, according to Zahid.Net. The driver of the car that was hit started filming Yurchenko. The lawmaker then punched the driver, trying to snatch the phone.
When taken into custody, Yurchenko threatened the police officers and proceeded to brag about his “powerful” connections, a police officer told a TSN news show.
Yurchenko was elected as a member of the Servant of the People, the ruling party of President Volodymyr Zelensky that has 244 seats in parliament. He was expelled from the party faction after he was implicated in bribery.
He allegedly received $13,000 for amending a bill. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau released the audio of Yurchenko’s conversation about the deal where he famously said, “I want a piece of the big pie.”
At first, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova refused to authorize charges against Yurchenko, stalling the process, as NABU cannot investigate a lawmaker without the signature of the prosecutor general.
After public pressure she signed it and Yurchenko was arrested. He was released on a bail of Hr 3 million ($100,000).
Reportedly, 10 years before he was elected, Yurchenko was detained for theft. He tried to steal four bottles of beer in a store in 2009.
