Viktor Yanukovych’s former lawyer appointed to investigate Yanukovych cases
On January 20, the former lawyer of Ukrainian ex-president Viktor Yanukovych, Oleksandr Babikov, was appointed to the post of the first deputy head of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI).
Ukraine’s Euromaidan or “The Revolution of Dignity” took place in winter 2013-2014. 106 activists (the “Heavenly Hundred”) were killed and more than 2000 injured in clashes with police at the central square of Kyiv. In the aftermath, Ukraine’s then-president Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia and was removed from the presidency by parliamentary vote. In early January, Evgenia Zakrevska, one of the lawyers representing families of the slain activists of Euromaidan, said that Babikov would be in charge of the investigation of the Heavenly Hundred killings.
The appointment immediately caused a wave of outrage in Ukrainian society and media. This was primarily due to a conflict of interest, since the proceedings in which Babikov defended his client Yanukovych, were transferred to the SBI.
The organization “Families of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes” made a statement condemning the appointment of Babikov, saying that it “testifies to the full revenge of Russia in Ukraine and threatens to “bury” the investigation of Maidan cases”: “The suspect’s defence lawyer will now lead the investigation of the suspect’s cases. This situation violates the basic principles of criminal process”.
Activist and Head of the Charity organization “Peace and Co” characterized the new SBI as “discrediting to all state institutions’: “We see that with this appointment, the SBI officially proves that it is becoming such a repressive body of the new government. We see the SBI is engaged in the prosecution of volunteers, activists, Maidan activists and we understand that their next step after this appointment could not only buy burying the Maidan cases, but also the revising the achievements of the Revolution of Dignity. In fact, this is a rematch.”
Oleksiy Donsky, one of the main prosecutors in Maidan cases since early 2015, has also publicly stated that he sees an obvious conflict of interests in Babikov’s new appointment. During a press conference on 22 January, marking the first deaths during the Revolution of Dignity, Donsky said that Babikov’s appointment “will undoubtedly have an adverse effect on these investigations.”
On January 28, Oleksandr Babikov gave his first briefing on a new position, during which he stated that he had never represented Yanukovych in court. On February 13, journalists of the Slidstvo.Info project had published official documents from the court register and audio recordings of the court hearings proving that Babikov acted as a defense attorney in Euromaidan cases on Yanukovych’s side.
Oleksandr Babikov is not the only example of the ex-president Yanukovych’s influence on the investigations of the crimes against the Revolution of Dignity activists. Many sources in the media have widely claimed that, after Babikov’s appointment, SBI is under “full control” of Andriy Portnov. Portnov, a former Deputy Head of the President Yanukovych’s administration, returned to Ukraine from his 5-year stay in Russia right after presidential elections. As wife of the Heavenly Hundred killed activist Yulia Tsepun noted on Portnov: “It is unacceptable and intolerable, that’s a full revenge of Russia and Yanukovych on us.”
In addition, there have been a number of high profile scandals in the SBI in recent months. The “tapes” of the former head of the SBI Roman Truba have proven both the direct influence of Zelenskiy Office on the course of investigations and persecution of political opponents.
“All the governance in Ukraine comes from one source — the Presidential Office. We can state that the control over the Parliament, the Government and the Court comes from the Office of the President and everything is reported directly to the President.”- says Victor Bobirenko, Head of the “Bureau of Policy Analysis” expert group.
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