The Ukrainian national anthem sung by Petro Poroshenko and his relatives resounded in the courtroom of the Kiev court on Wednesday January 19, according to journalists from Agence France-Presse on the spot, at the announcement of the decision of the Ukrainian justice of the maintenance in freedom of the ex-president and opponent accused of high treason, while prohibiting him from leaving the country. The decision was announced by Judge Oleksiï Sokolov.
More than a thousand supporters of Mr. Poroshenko had gathered outside the court awaiting the decision. Clashes with law enforcement briefly erupted, injuring a police officer and a protester, according to police. The protesters then moved towards the presidency before dispersing.
“Dear friends, I congratulate you”
The prosecution had demanded the imprisonment of the former Ukrainian president, except payment of a deposit of around 30 million euros. The judge nevertheless ordered the main opponent of President Volodymyr Zelensky to return his passports, without which he will not be able to leave Ukraine. Mr. Poroshenko’s lawyers immediately announced that they would appeal this decision.
“Dear friends, I congratulate you”, declared to the press the ex-head of state and billionaire, surrounded by his wife and several deputies of his party. “We came here to show that we are not afraid, that the truth is with us. » He accuses President Zelensky of having hatched the proceedings against him to get rid of a political rival, the “to discredit” and ” to divide “ the country with this deal, despite the threat of an imminent Russian invasion.
The proceedings against Mr. Poroshenko are closely followed by Westerners, Ukraine having been condemned in the past for persecution deemed political against former senior state officials. “One of Moscow’s long-standing goals has been to try to sow divisions between and within our countries”, warned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a Wednesday meeting in Kiev with Mr. Zelensky, in an apparent allusion to the Poroshenko affair. “We cannot and will not let them do this”, he continued.
Act of “high treason”
56-year-old billionaire Poroshenko returned to Ukraine on Monday after a month abroad, despite the threat of arrest. Investigators suspect Poroshenko worked with wealthy pro-Russian tycoon Viktor Medvedchuk, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to facilitate the 2014 and 2015 purchase of coal from companies in eastern Russia. Ukraine, in the hands of pro-Russian separatists who are at war with Kiev.
According to the prosecution, the former president had thus de factoo used state funds to fund separatists, an act of ” high treason “, punishable by up to fifteen years in prison. Mr Poroshenko, whose relations with Russia were terrible during his presidency, notably led the country at the height of the conflict. Now a deputy, the former president is cited in dozens of court cases.