The personnel reshuffle orchestrated by Prosecutor General Yarema in regional prosecutor's offices continues. This time, a potential candidate for removal is Oleh Sydorchuk, a protégé of former Prosecutor General Oleh Makhnitsky and the Zakarpattia Oblast Prosecutor. But will it be so easy to oust the prosecutor who is inconvenient for Yarema?
Instead of a resignation letter, I went on sick leave.
It has emerged that the Prosecutor General's Office (GPU) "politely asked" the head of the Zakarpattia Regional Prosecutor's Office, Sydorchuk, to resign voluntarily. The Zakarpattia prosecutor decided to consider his next steps while on sick leave.
While the suddenly ill prosecutor is being replaced by his deputy, Roman Balita, Sydorchuk himself is scratching his head and no doubt pondering the next developments. He should either "go after" Yarema, following the example of his colleagues from Mykolaiv and Lutsk—regional prosecutors Stoyanov and Kotsura—or the Prosecutor General's Office will prepare a position for him in another region, or even within the agency itself. In that case, the need for a legal showdown with the boss on Moscow's Reznitskaya Street will disappear entirely.
Everything is under control – from cigarette smuggling to the construction of business centers
Speaking about Sydorchuk's personality, it's worth noting that before his appointment to Uzhhorod, he served as deputy to Mykhailo Vityaz, the Kyiv Oblast Prosecutor General's Office's former Prosecutor General, during Viktor Pshonka's tenure as head of the Prosecutor General's Office. He assumed his most recent position as first deputy head of the Prosecutor General's Office's Main Directorate for Supervision of Law Enforcement by Special Forces and Other Agencies Combating Organized Crime and Corruption.
While still deputy prosecutor of the Kyiv region, Sydorchuk investigated the case of the so-called Vasylkiv terrorists, who were subsequently acquitted for lack of evidence of a crime in February of this year. However, in 2012, Prosecutor Sydorchuk didn't even send the case for further investigation, but instead approved the indictment, sending it to court, which sentenced them to six years in prison. Interestingly, no one has ever assessed these actions by the prosecutor, either then or now.
At one time, introducing Sydorchuk to the staff of the regional prosecutor's office, the former prosecutor general Oleg Makhnitsky He noted that from now on the prosecutor's office must work in a new way, in accordance with the expectations of the people who won the "Revolution of Dignity."
True, according to information from competent individuals who have dealt personally with Sydorchuk, the "new way of working" of this regional prosecutor is that in Transcarpathia, as before, any position in the prosecutor's office can be bought; everything depends only on the "price of the issue."
It was during Sydorchuk's tenure in Zakarpattia that the head of the regional prosecutor's office's transportation department was detained red-handed by SBU officers for accepting a bribe of $8. It would be foolish to assume that the regional prosecutor was unaware of his subordinate's illegal activities. On the contrary, rumor has it that Sydorchuk was the one who sent the latter to collect taxes from the region's customs posts.
The region's top lawmaker also addressed the issue of tobacco smuggling across Ukraine's customs border: today, everyone involved pays a price. Guess who pays.
The prosecutor is accused of protecting illegal seizures of buildings and attacking lawyers.
The case involving the Korona complex, a key historical building in the center of Uzhgorod and an architectural landmark, also ended in a high-profile scandal for the Zakarpattia prosecutor. Enterprising businessmen, led by city council member Ivan Voloshin, set their sights on the building, planning to open an art and business center there and illegally privatizing over 1000 square meters of the historic structure. Initially, Oleh Sydorchuk publicly promised to address the infringement on community property, but subsequently let the matter slide. Clearly, it wasn't for nothing.
However, all this is nothing compared to what regional activists are throwing at the local prosecutor. This concerns the politically motivated persecution of lawyer Anastasia Bachinskaya, according to the activists.
The fact is that on August 22 of this year, prosecutor Oleg Sydorchuk brought charges of allegedly inciting Bachinska, a lawyer, media lawyer, and member of the public council of the Uzhgorod city council, to receive an illegal benefit.
At the same time, the National Association of Advocates of Ukraine has established gross violations of the rights of lawyers and current Ukrainian legislation in the actions of law enforcement agencies.
Things reached the point where the Association wrote a letter to Prosecutor General Yarema. The letter asks the head of the Prosecutor General's Office to conduct an investigation into the actions of regional prosecutors and hold them accountable.
At the same time, numerous complaints from lawyers to the Zakarpattia Oblast prosecutor's office itself have traditionally remained ignored.
All these facts create a less than favorable backdrop for prosecutor Sydorchuk and give Yarema free rein to have him dismissed as soon as possible.
There are already potential candidates to replace Sydorchuk.
However, a holy place never remains empty, and the first potential candidates for the position of head of the Transcarpathian regional prosecutor's office have already appeared.
Thus, one of the likely candidates for the regional prosecutor's seat is the current Uzhhorod prosecutor, Ruslan Bilovar. Notably, Bilovar is one of the few prosecutors to retain his position under the new government. This suggests that the Uzhhorod city prosecutor has established the necessary connections with the new leadership of the Prosecutor General's Office, and it's possible that he will be nominated for the regional prosecutor's position. Bilovar became nationally known after his personal luxury Mercedes SUV, valued at over $100, was torched on December 1st of last year, precisely on Prosecutor's Office Day.
Bilovar's candidacy is linked to the head of the regional council and Viktor Baloha's brother, Ivan, who is actively pushing his protégé into the prosecutor's seat.
The Prosecutor General's Office may also consider the candidacy of Sydorchuk's "deputy," Anatoly Savchenko, who has held the position for over five years, since 2009. He has "outlived" several regional prosecutors, and it's generally quite difficult to find any incriminating evidence against him, which is already an achievement among domestic prosecutors.
Sydorchuk's former deputy, Ivan Kaylo, is also a contender. However, this spring, he was effectively "luded" from his post by Right Sector activists, who accused him of protecting illegal businesses and initiating criminal cases. Following this, the Prosecutor General's Office (GPU) launched an investigation into the prosecutor's activities, which forced him to resign. Therefore, Kaylo's appointment as regional prosecutor can only be considered hypothetical, as otherwise, a wave of public anger from Transcarpathia could sweep the Prosecutor General from his post.
Another contender for the post of Transcarpathian prosecutor is Oleh Tsitsak, an aide to MP Viktor Baloha and, therefore, his protégé. Tsitsak previously headed the personnel department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, which Baloha headed. However, he was previously detained while drunk by public activists, which significantly tarnishes his reputation and could become a significant obstacle to his appointment.
Based on the above, Prosecutor's Truth would like to ask several questions to the leadership of the Prosecutor General's Office:
— What exactly is driving the urgent need to replace Makhnitsky-era regional prosecutors in Transcarpathia, too? If it's just "unclean hands," then why do such officials continue to work in other regions?
— What final decision will be made regarding Zakarpattia Prosecutor Sydorchuk? The public is very interested in which of his "sins" the Prosecutor General's Office will take into account.
— What are the criteria for selecting candidates for the position, or is this just a ploy to "blown away" and Yarema has had a candidate in mind for a long time?
— If so, will Baloha’s group push through its own prosecutor?
Prosecutor's Truth
Subscribe to our channels in Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, VC — Only new faces from the section CRYPT!