Incitement to desertion: Former Ukraine's President to be tried in absentia
Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and the ex-deputy head of the State Security Department will be tried in absentia for inciting desertion and organising illegal crossing of the state border.
Source: Press office of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine
Quote: "With the participation of the prosecutors of the General Prosecutor's Office, the Podil District Court of Kyiv decided to conduct a special court proceeding in absentia against the former President of Ukraine and the ex-deputy head of the State Security Department of Ukraine, [who also was] the head of the security service of the President of Ukraine."
Details: The name of the former head of the Presidential Security Service is not mentioned, but it is known that it is Major General Kostiantyn Kobzar, who was arrested in absentia by the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv in February 2022.
The investigation established that on 23 February 2014, Yanukovych, together with the head of his security service and representatives of the Russian Federation, [enjoying the support of] aircraft and watercraft of the naval forces of the aggressor state, illegally crossed the state border of Ukraine twice and ferried at least 20 people through it to Russia.
On the same day, on the territory of the military unit of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation in the Cossack Bay Area of Sevastopol, Yanukovych incited servicemen of the State Guard of Ukraine, who provided his security, to commit desertion.
Accordingly, the ex-president was charged with organising the illegal transportation of persons across the state border of Ukraine and inciting desertion. His former bodyguard was charged with organising the illegal transfer of individuals across the state border, too.
Background: Investigators of the State Bureau of Investigation informed Yanukovych of the suspicion of inciting the State Security Department servicemen to desertion in February 2022.
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