The Poltava region's ranks of prosecutors have grown. The regional prosecutor's office has secured a new regional prosecutor, Yan Strelyuk. However, he's new only for the Poltava region. Prior to that, he spent a couple of months as Kyiv's deputy prosecutor, and even earlier, he resigned from the interregional Vasylkiv prosecutor's office, not without controversy.
Lyashka's fighters lustrate Strelyuk
Mr. Strelyuk resigned from his previous job, the Vasylkiv Interdistrict Prosecutor's Office, albeit reluctantly. The reason for his resignation was an unfriendly visit from fighters from Oleh Lyashko's "Ukraine" battalion. As befits these guys, they came to lustrate the prosecutor right in his office. The accusations against the prosecutor concerned the fabrication of criminal cases, the lack of response to the "Tiger" and "Bars" special forces units in Vasylkiv during the Maidan protests, negligence in investigating high-profile cases they had repeatedly addressed, budget fraud, utility bills, and much more. The fighters also accused the prosecutor of "inertia" in the intrigues surrounding the arson attack on the home of one of the "Ukraine" battalion fighters, city council member Pandzhakidze.
Here's the story. In early summer, the apartment of Viktor Pandzhakidze, a local Euromaidan activist and now a serviceman of Georgian descent, was set on fire. The fire was set on the second attempt; the first failed attempt occurred on the night of May 31st, and on the night of June 1st, the building was completely burned to the ground. Pandzhakidze's wife and children were in the house at the time of the arson, but they miraculously escaped. The soldier learned from personal experience that while he was defending the country in eastern Ukraine, no law enforcement agency could guarantee his family's safety. The inter-district prosecutor's office failed to conduct a fair investigation into the case; instead, it did everything it could to cover up the matter by falsifying documents. According to the servicemen themselves, this was the reason they came to Vasylkiv and delivered an ultimatum to Prosecutor Strelyuk.
Ultimately, Strelyuk resigned. It's worth noting that some Vasylkiv residents were greatly outraged by this; some even appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office (GPU) to conduct an internal investigation and reinstate Strelyuk. Anatoly Borovik, chairman of the "Hometown" public organization in Vasylkiv, said Strelyuk had been at odds with the local police and the authorities, had been shutting down drug trafficking, and had been fighting the gambling industry in the city. This led some to believe the prosecutor had been forced out to stop him from interfering.
And in July of this year, a scandal erupted, in which the Vasylkiv city and inter-district prosecutor's offices clashed over the division of prime suburban land—plots of land in Glevakha seized by private owners. This summer, the fate of 23 plots of 0,1 hectares each belonging to the Glevakha village council, located on the territory of Military Town No. 11, privatized back in 2010, fell into the hands of Strelyuk. Then, as the head of the Vasylkiv inter-district prosecutor's office, Strelyuk demanded the seizure of the privately owned, illegally privatized plots in Glevakha and the reversal of the Vasylkiv city council's decision to transfer the land to private owners. Interestingly, the hearing on this case will only take place this month, while the Vasylkiv prosecutor's office had already gotten rid of Strelyuk in July. Even more interesting, what will the court's decision be without Strelyuk's intervention?
Got promoted
After his departure, Strelyuk himself said that it was the "complexity" that forced him to leave the Vasylkiv Prosecutor's Office. Strelyuk didn't have long to be bored. A month after his dismissal from the inter-district prosecutor's office, he received a new position – deputy prosecutor of the Kyiv Prosecutor's Office. He only held the position for a short time, but already managed to make a name for himself by commenting on the case of a gang of Kyiv prosecutors and cops who brazenly robbed the Graff jewelry store in Kyiv in late August. However, they soon planted part of the loot at the door of their own prosecutor's office. What was the motive of these thieves in uniform? To atone for their mistake and beg forgiveness from the Prosecutor General? But then-Deputy Prosecutor of Kyiv, Yan Strelyuk, expressed an opinion confirming that the prosecutorial system was rotten to the core. Seeing the situation from the inside, he suggested that "the thieves in uniform are trying to ease their own plight, knowing they'll never be able to sell all these valuables, either through pawnshops or any other means." In this case, Prosecutor Strelyuk hinted that there was no harm to the victim, meaning the fate of the prosecutors who were caught in the jewelry store would be eased.
Overall, the Poltava region has been lucky once again. Especially considering that three regional prosecutors have already been replaced in the regional prosecutor's office in the past few months. And not without the intervention of Poltava Mayor Oleksandr Mamay. Mamay is gradually "squeezing out" those who are undesirable, and those like Strelyuk are taking their place.
Incidentally, according to the Prosecutor General's Office's official website, all regional prosecutor's offices have been staffed with new prosecutors. The only exception is the city of Sevastopol. In this regard, Prosecutor's Truth has a couple of questions:
Why was the head of the Poltava Oblast Prosecutor's Office entrusted to a man who failed to live up to the expectations of people in Vasylkiv and Kyiv?
— Does Vitaly Yarema remember his promise to deal with the prosecutors who tarnished the honor of the uniform?
Prosecutor's Truth
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