The country is at war, impoverished, robbed, and murdered. Journalists are being shot in broad daylight. Not a single high-profile crime has been solved, not a single corrupt official punished. However, this doesn't seem to matter to the government's leadership and law enforcement agencies. Their goal is to imprison their personal offenders by any means necessary, even if they themselves are not entirely blameless. We won't be trying to determine who is in power without sin; our goal is to provide the public with the information gathered by journalists.
To show that by publicly speaking about equality before the law, the authorities and law enforcement officers openly demonstrate that the laws do not apply to them.
Well-known lawyer Andrei Fedur provided us with revealing information on this matter.
Part One: Fedur and the Prosecutor General's Office. The Clash
The indicator of the movement towards Europe is the failures in the investigation of all high-profile cases
The Prosecutor General's Office is the highest oversight body of any state. It guarantees law enforcement, regardless of rank or status. This was promised to the public by the president and all three prosecutors general appointed to the office after the Revolution of Dignity. But what are we witnessing? A sluggish investigation into the Heavenly Hundred shooting. The country is overwhelmed by crime—people are being murdered, robbed, and an entire army of swindlers and beggars has emerged…
How was this possible? The country isn't advancing toward European values; it's effectively been thrown back to the gangster days of the 90s. Because everyone—the president, his protégés in parliament and the prosecutor's office—flout the law and only carry out political orders.
The Prosecutor General's Office is a sign of our progress toward Europe. What's there? Stagnation, a "tykhetya" lifestyle, and activity limited to persecuting personal enemies and opponents of the state leadership. Does Europe need such a country? No.
It's known that Shokin was given until summer to solve high-profile cases (particularly those related to Euromaidan). But it's clear that nothing will happen on time, as the prosecutors apparently don't even know the Criminal Procedure Code. And with this level of "professionalism," we won't find the perpetrators in this case until at least the elections. Therefore, all the statements from the Prosecutor General's Office leadership are pure sham.
Because in reality, we see a failure in the investigation of all high-profile cases. Except for the criminal cases against the enemies of his protégé—the oligarch-president Poroshenko and his (for now) sidekick Yuriy Lutsenko.
Very indicative in this regard is the criminal case against the former First Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Renat Kuzmin (Read more about it in the article Renat Kuzmin: The Family Business of Outlaw Prosecutors), the political subtext of which was clearly outlined by Interpol - the Interpol Central Secretariat in France refused to cooperate with Ukraine.
How they wanted to put pressure on the lawyer
Today, a large team of investigators is working on the "Kuzmin case" at the Prosecutor General's Office. They are actively pursuing it, making it practically the focus of the entire agency's work. As a reminder, the case was previously overseen by Yuriy Lutsenko's lawyer, Oleksiy Baganets, who was recently shamefully expelled from the Prosecutor General's Office. This prosecutor's unprofessionalism could no longer be ignored, and even his patron, Lutsenko, who heads the presidential faction in parliament, couldn't save Baganets.
But before Shokin could even arrive at the Prosecutor General's Office, the first thing he did was declare that investigators were actively working on the "Kuzmin case." Former Prosecutor General's Office investigator Sergei Voichenko (who led the investigators on the Lutsenko case) was also facing criminal prosecution in connection with this same case.
We could see the results of the prosecutors' "activity" quite recently: on April 2, a criminal complaint was handed to Kuzmin and Voichenko's lawyer, Andrei Fedur, a well-known lawyer in Europe (!)
The prosecutor's office suspected Fedur of assaulting an unknown prosecutor (the lawyer allegedly said something to him in the courthouse courtyard). The court spent several days deciding on a preventive measure for Fedur. Ultimately, the prosecutor's request was denied.
But what's interesting is that the Prosecutor General's Office didn't demand the lawyer's arrest, perhaps realizing how ridiculous their suspicions were. They wanted something else: money (bail) and the confiscation of all passports (civil and international). So that A. Fedur would no longer be able to defend anyone.
Trials under the "Filkina Charter"
Now let's take a closer look at how the country's chief prosecutor, who advocates for democracy and equality before the law, spits on the law.
Last August, former investigator Voichenko was placed in pretrial detention for several days and then released on bail, but Lutsenko, the "offender," was not even served with a notice of suspicion.
On October 20, 2014, a panel of judges at the Kyiv Court of Appeals ruled that Voichenko's notice of suspicion had not been properly served. More precisely, the former investigator's notice of suspicion was handed to him by Shram, the deputy head of the Prosecutor General's Office department, which is a violation of the law. The notice itself was signed by Deputy Prosecutor General Anatoly Matios (who has served as Ukraine's Chief Military Prosecutor since August of last year).
The military prosecutor had nothing better to do? "Cauldrons," embezzlement of army funds, deaths of soldiers... Moreover, the notice contained corrections and signs that it had been written by different people.
As lawyer A. Fedur explained, in connection with the existing signs of falsification of the notice of suspicion against Sergei Voichenko, he appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office with a petition to conduct a handwriting and forensic examination of the document.
It's understandable: the military prosecutor wants to arrest investigator Lutsenko. The handwriting is different, some is erased, some is crossed out... Can we see Matius's original signature? Is the lawyer demanding something top secret? The prosecutor's office assumed so and refused.
Taking advantage of his rights as a defense attorney, as established by the new Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, which provides for equality of defense and prosecution in the trial, Fedur appealed to the investigative judge of the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv and received a ruling to conduct an expert examination of the signature of Deputy Prosecutor General Matios.
What is required to conduct such an examination? Signature samples, both those provided by the prosecutor and those contained in documents previously prepared by him.
In an attempt to steer A. Fedur away from defending Kuzmin and Voichenko, the Prosecutor General's Office (GPU) meanwhile served a notice of suspicion on the lawyer himself, and forwarded Sergei Voichenko's case to the Zhytomyr region.
However, the judge of the Korolovsky District Court of Zhitomir also decided to grant temporary access with the possibility of seizure (carrying out a seizure) of documents from the personal file of Deputy Prosecutor General Matios, which contains signature samples of the official.
Reliable sources have revealed that the prosecutor's office was shocked by this. What Euromaidan protesters, what murders, or "cauldrons"? Fedur wants to seize documents to verify the authenticity of Matios's signature!
"In accordance with the requirements of the Constitution of Ukraine and the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, the ruling of the investigating judge is binding on every official, institution, and organization within Ukraine. Any official, in accordance with the Constitution, must act only in the manner prescribed by law, meaning, in this case, they must comply with the court's decision and provide the requested documents," Fedur explains.
Anyone, except an official of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine or the Prosecutor General. Only the Prosecutor General, as the head of the agency, can issue an order authorizing the seizure of necessary documents.
Turmoil in the GPU
On April 17, lawyers A. Fedur and A. Parkheta arrived at the Prosecutor General's Office with a court decision granting temporary access to documents—the personal file of Deputy Matios.
What happened then! Davydchenko, head of the Human Resources Department of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, came out to the lawyers. Upon learning the lawyers' demands, he ran off, explaining that he would "hand over" everything. He spent a long time handing over everything—six hours, several times running back to the lawyers and then back to Shokin.
But, as expected, the "Georgian reforms" in the prosecutor's office are not taking place: the Prosecutor General's Office responded to the lawyer's legal demands by stating that the agency would not comply with the court's decision, and that the Prosecutor General's Office allegedly filed an appeal against the court's decision that same day.
Legal experts explained that the Prosecutor General of Ukraine's refusal to comply with a court decision constitutes a serious crime under Part 3 of Article 382 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which states: "Intentional failure to comply with a court judgment, decision, ruling, or order that has entered into legal force, or obstruction of their enforcement." Part 3 of Article 382 stipulates that such a crime is committed by a person holding a responsible or especially responsible position (i.e., the Prosecutor General, his deputies, and prosecutors).
The lawyer immediately stated this, writing a response to the Prosecutor General right in the lobby of the Prosecutor General's Office.
Legal experts clarify that the investigative judge's decision to grant temporary access to documents in this case cannot be appealed by law, and notification of an appeal suspends the execution of the court decision.
So, the conclusion is obvious: the Prosecutor General's Office genuinely wants to either change, distort, or even destroy documents. Otherwise, why would they falsify, correct, hide, or appeal them?
Is the law the same for everyone?
Failure to comply with a court order is impossible in any civilized country. For example, in the United States, a prosecutor who refused to comply with a court order would be immediately arrested by the very judge who issued the order. That's true in the US, but not here.
It's a paradox: the Prosecutor General's Office, as a party to the proceedings (and under the new Criminal Procedure Code, it enjoys equal rights with the defense), receives similar orders from the courts to seize documents from someone. Has anyone ever tried to defy the court's order and withhold the documents the prosecutors need? No. Because they have power, force (not the law), on their side. Because they'll immediately come and search the premises. And then they'll definitely put you in jail. So why doesn't the prosecutor's office comply with the court's order when it's the case?
"The Criminal Procedure Code stipulates that if a decision on temporary access to items and documents is not complied with, the investigating judge, at the request of a party to the criminal proceedings who has been granted access to the items and documents, has the right to issue a ruling authorizing a search for the purpose of seizing the said items and documents," explained lawyer A. Fedur.
But how to seize it? Perhaps conduct a search of the Prosecutor General's Office to determine whether the agency is adhering to the letter of the law? Especially since the case against Voichenko and Kuzmin is clearly a paid hit, politically motivated, and blatantly false. And if it's false, some very nasty things could come to light. What kind? Fedur promises to talk about this later. For now, he gave journalists an equally interesting document—a copy of a letter from Kuzmin to Shokin.
All documents provided by the lawyer can be viewed at https://dropmefiles.com/oJ0lU
To be continued ...
Anna Bozhko, based on online media reports
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