Following a wave of mass dismissals of prosecutorial staff last week, Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema set about filling the resulting gap and the agency's vacancies. According to the Prosecutor General's Office website, in late October, Yarema issued orders appointing deputy prosecutors in five regions of Ukraine.
Odessa region
Specifically, Vitaliy Etnarovich (previously a "regular" deputy regional prosecutor) has been appointed First Deputy Regional Prosecutor in Odesa. Sources at the Prosecutor's Truth office note that Etnarovich is a member of the staff of Regional Prosecutor Andriy Priz, with whom he worked in Kyiv, working in the department for overseeing compliance with laws by tax police agencies.
Evil tongues claim that Etnarovich is not only a prosecutor, but also the owner of gambling and entertainment establishments in the Southern Palmyra, and it was under the patronage of his father, a prosecutor, that the career of current Odessa City Council deputy Vitaly Etnarovich developed.
Another deputy to Priz was the "under-registered" and controversial former prosecutor of Odessa's Kyivsky district, Serhiy Kostenko, who became embroiled in a scandal this summer involving luxury real estate on Fontana Street, allegedly owned by him. Pavlo Zakernychny also took over the position of deputy regional prosecutor.
Kiev region
The very young Ihor Grabets (he won't turn 30 until next year) has become the first deputy of Bezkorovaynyi, the regional prosecutor who retained his position. According to Prosecutor's Truth, Grabets's rise to prominence is linked to family ties: he is the son-in-law of Yuriy Demin, the head of the Prosecutor's Academy who was previously dismissed as part of the lustration process (and previously served as deputy to Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka). Grabets's career began in the Kyiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office—under Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka, he served as head of the land department, and then rose to a similar position in the Prosecutor General's Office.
An equally colorful character has been appointed as another deputy prosecutor of the Kyiv region: Oleksandr Korniets. According to sources at Prosecutor's Truth, Korniets is the former driver of Ivanets, the former Holosiivskyi district prosecutor. Oleksandr Korniets graduated from the Prosecutor's Academy in absentia, and three years later became the head of the department for the protection of the state's financial and economic interests in the Kyiv Prosecutor's Office. It was thanks to this lucrative position that Korniets gained media exposure, particularly for his confrontations with restaurant and cafe owners on the capital's waterfront.
In addition, the following have been appointed as deputy prosecutors of the Kyiv regional prosecutor’s office:
— Maksym Akhsarov (who began his career as a prosecutor in Rivne, then moved to Kirovohrad, and after the change of power in February 2014, found himself in demand by the new regime—he worked as deputy prosecutor of the Kirovohrad regional prosecutor, and in mid-summer was appointed deputy prosecutor of Kyiv)
— Jaroslav Bendik.
The scandalous Kyiv city prosecutor, Sergei Yuldashev, has also acquired a new deputy: Sergei Timchenko has been appointed his deputy.
Kherson region
Pavlo Gushchin, who previously served for a long time as the prosecutor of Khartsyzsk in the Donetsk region, has been appointed Deputy Prosecutor of the Kherson Regional Prosecutor. In 2011, when Viktor Pshonka ordered all city prosecutors to publish their income declarations, Gushchin declared an annual income of just under 170 rubles.
Kharkiv region
The following have been appointed as deputies of the Kharkiv regional prosecutor:
- Artem Stepanov;
— Alexander Stratyuk (the full namesake of the prosecutor Stratyuk, who previously became widely known while working in Transcarpathia, where he actively “lobbied” for the interests of the Balogh clan);
Rovenskaya region
The following have been appointed as deputies of the Rivne regional prosecutor:
— Viktor Kupchik, who, prior to his current appointment, held the position of Rivne Interdistrict Prosecutor for Supervision of Compliance with Laws in the Sphere of Environmental Protection, and worked in the system for a total of just under 20 years;
- Evgeny Ryaboy.
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