Ukrainian President Rejects Fugitive Lawmaker's Corruption Accusations, But Shock Waves Extend Abroad
By RFE/RL
More than two years after his election to the Ukrainian parliament on a wave of popular anger over political and economic rot in the corridors of power, Oleksandr Onyshchenko, by his own account, got his hands plenty dirty.
The 47-year-old Onyshchenko insists he was a loyal political lieutenant of President Petro Poroshenko, serving as a middleman for the wartime president's inner circle, smearing a prime minister, and ensuring that bribes were paid in good order.
But it all came crashing down for the former Olympic equestrian-turned-politician in July, when his fellow lawmakers consented to the Ukrainian prosecutor-general's request to strip him of his parliamentary immunity to put him on trial for an alleged massive embezzlement scheme involving a state-owned gas company and millions in kickbacks.
Onyshchenko had fled Ukraine weeks earlier and has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence from abroad.
But his counterpunch at Kyiv landed earlier this month, just as the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) launched a treason case against the fugitive legislator.
Onyshchenko told Current Time TV and other media from his self-exile -- he is reportedly seeking political asylum in the United Kingdom -- that he has damning recordings and digital evidence against Poroshenko.
He added that he has handed materials over to the FBI, which falls under the U.S. Department of Justice.
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Lawyers For Crimean Journalist Charged With Separatism Start Studying Case
By Crimea Desk, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Lawyers for Mykola Semena, a Crimean journalist and contributor to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), say their client has received the final written charges from the Russian-imposed authorities in Crimea.
Semena is charged with spreading "calls for undermining Russian territorial integrity via mass media."
Lawyers Emil Kuberdinov and Andrei Sabinin wrote on Facebook that they have begun to study the nearly six volumes of case materials after their client received the final official charges on December 7.
In Russia's judicial system, delivery of the final charges is often followed within weeks by a trial.
He could be sentenced to five years in prison if convicted.
Semena, who contributes to RFE/RL’s Crimea Realities website, was initially charged in May by the Russian-imposed authorities after he wrote an article expressing the view that Crimea should be returned to Ukraine.
Russia seized control of the peninsula in March 2014, after sending in troops and staging a referendum considered illegitimate by Ukraine, the United States, and at least 100 nations.
Semena is currently under a court order barring him from leaving Crimea and must seek prior permission to travel outside the regional capital, Simferopol.
The United States, European Union, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and international media-freedom organizations have expressed concern over Semena's case, which activists say is part of a Russian clampdown on independent media and dissent in Crimea.
After Moscow seized control of Crimea, the Russian parliament passed a law making it a criminal offense to question Russia's territorial integrity within what the government considers its borders.