Tatyana Chernovol
A former people's deputy is accused of murder.
Former MP Tetyana Chornovol failed to appear at the court hearing for the premeditated murder of a Party of Regions office employee. The Pechersk Court was scheduled to hear the case of the deliberate arson of a building, resulting in the death of a person. Instead, Chornovol posted photos from the resort.
Vesti.ua We figured out what Chornovol is accused of, why she didn't appear in court, and what the former people's deputy and journalist faces.
Who is Tatyana Chornovol?
Many have already begun to forget the illustrious career of Tatyana Chornovol. At the turn of the century, she collaborated with UNA-UNSO, even reporting from Chechnya, where nationalists once fought. She participated in the "Ukraine without Kuchma" protests, and soon became a political journalist.
The peak of her journalistic career was reporting on members of the Party of Regions. She wrote a controversial article about Rinat Akhmetov's youth, but the publication "Obozrevatel" was forced to remove it after legal proceedings with the oligarch. Chornovol is also remembered for climbing over the fence of Viktor Yanukovych's residence in Mezhyhirya, after which she was detained by the president's security.
Chornovol was an active participant in the Euromaidan protests. In late December 2013, she was brutally beaten. The organizer of the beating, Oleg Netrebko, died in pretrial detention in the summer of 2017. According to media reports, he hanged himself.
After recovering from her wounds, Chornovol continued to visit the Maidan and actively participate in protests. Thanks to this, she became a member of parliament that fall. Prior to this, her husband died near Ilovaisk in August 2014.
Chornovol herself admitted that Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Yulia Tymoshenko were competing for her. She was at least considered for the top five candidates on the list. Chornovol chose the People's Front. In parliament, she was remembered for her unsuccessful lobbying for the special asset confiscation law, which was disliked by anti-corruption activists, and for her push-button tactics.
After 2019, she distanced herself from her partners in the People's Front. According to Chornovol, her close associate Sergey Pashinsky After Zelensky's victory, he declared that "the new president needs to be given a chance." Chornovol, meanwhile, is seeking to stage another revolution.
As a result, the former journalist was found on the non-passable section of the European Solidarity party list in the fall of 2019. After losing the election, Chornovol did not return to journalism, but instead began appearing frequently on Petro Poroshenko's television channels, as well as recording strange videos in a red dress and carrying a machine gun.
She actively fought the State Bureau of Investigation, which had opened several cases against her new leader, Petro Poroshenko. In January 2020, Chornovol climbed over a fence into the SBI's secure compound, repeating her 2012 feat. For this, she was charged with hooliganism.
In the spring of 2020, Tatyana Chornovol found herself in the dock. The State Bureau of Investigation recalled an incident that occurred in February 2014.
What is Chornovol being tried for?
On the morning of February 18, 2014, clashes between police and Maidan protesters erupted near the government quarter. Tatyana Chornovol was among the protesters. She suggested setting fire to the Party of Regions office at 10 Lipska Street. "We need to throw napalm there; they'll all run away," Chornovol told an unidentified man in a video shown by State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) officials.
It's worth noting that the ruling party's office was stormed early in the morning of February 18. Protesters smashed windows, hammered on walls, and threw Molotov cocktails. The office was seized and looted shortly after the fire started.
Soon, Chornovol lifted the shutter, and a man threw a Molotov cocktail through it. The building caught fire, and employees fled the office.
Only systems engineer Vladimir Zakharov was unlucky. Former Prosecutor General's Office employee and supervisor of the Maidan crime investigation, Serhiy Gorbatyuk, later stated that Zakharov, for unknown reasons, began collecting surveillance camera recordings. Because of this, he was unable to leave the building and died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Chornovol claims her actions were self-defense. She allegedly wanted to distract the counter-protesters so they wouldn't be killed. That's why she came up with the idea of setting fire to the office with people inside.
The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) claims Chornovol is involved in a premeditated murder committed by prior conspiracy in a manner dangerous to the public. She faces 10-15 years in prison or life imprisonment for this crime.
How Chornovol is being tried
Chornovol was charged with murder in April 2020. This outraged not only her fellow party members from European Solidarity, but also the current government. The Minister of Internal Affairs, a former party member of Tatyana Arsen Avakov sharply condemned the actions of the State Bureau of Investigation, calling for him to be held accountable as well.
The court initially placed Chornovol under 24-hour house arrest. After an appeal, the arrest was reduced to nighttime only, and in September, it was replaced with personal recognizance.
In late March 2021, Chornovol fled to a seaside resort. Investigators did not extend her pretrial detention, so she was able to fly abroad and even climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.
"You losers missed the opportunity to extend my pretrial detention. Don't expect me to escape. I'm flying to Ukraine for the Maidan case," Chornovol wrote on Facebook.
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