At all times, even in the USSR, lawyers, no matter who they represented, were protected by law. Apparently, this no longer applies to Ukraine. And why should it? History repeats itself:
"In order to promptly prevent the deterioration of the situation and ensure the general welfare within these territories, a state of emergency is declared. By order of Lord Cutler Beckett, representative of His Majesty the King, a number of legal acts are being amended in accordance with the terms of martial law:
The right to assembly is ABOLISHED;
The right to inviolability is ABOLISHED;
The right to legal assistance is ABOLISHED;
The right to a jury trial is ABOLISHED.
According to the Decree, anyone who is convicted of piracy or assisting persons convicted of piracy or associated with persons convicted of piracy will be subject to the death penalty by hanging!
That's how they fought pirates in the British colonies. Unsuccessfully, it must be said. That's because the difference between a pirate and a filibuster was negligible. A filibuster was just a pirate with a certificate. So they decided to fight corruption by giving some a certificate, and by hanging others for lack of one, or even by declaring them corrupt.
A "young team" of prosecutorial reformers and anti-corruption fighters has arrived in the country, and for the sake of this sacred cause, it's possible to abandon certain principles and even make sacrifices. For political reasons, so to speak. And if the "anti-corruption fighters" have designated someone corrupt, defending them is unnecessary and even dangerous. And it's simply inconvenient. The media trumpeted to the world that evil had been found and punished, and suddenly it turns out the suspect was innocent. Horrible! How can he not be guilty if the "reformers" have already accused him on television? Guilty automatically! Legality? But let's not be formalists! We are fighting corruption after all...
The question of how corruption can be combated through lawlessness no longer seems pointless today, but those interested in how far this lawlessness can go should read the rest of the article. So, let's take it one step at a time.
Fanfare and disappointment
In July of this year, Deputy Prosecutor General David Sakvarelidze's report that Vladimir Shapakin, First Deputy Head of the Main Investigative Department of the Prosecutor General's Office, and Oleksandr Korniets, Deputy Prosecutor of the Kyiv Region, were arrested while accepting a bribe of over 3 million hryvnias was widely reported. The money was laid out in front of television cameras, right on the carpet. The average citizen was stunned. So that's how rich the Ukrainian prosecutor's office is! But then it suddenly turned out that:
there is no money that was allegedly intended for a bribe, at least it was not confiscated from the accused;
the fact of the transfer of money was not recorded;
the persons accused of corruption did not commit any corrupt acts, including those for which they were declared corrupt, that is, there was no bribe or action;
The mere fact that a citizen has money, you must agree, doesn't mean it was acquired through criminal means. And, in general, owning money isn't considered a crime.
Conversations between third parties about handing money to suspects were recorded. But if someone says on camera that they're going to bribe, say, Pyotr Alekseyevich or Viktor Nikolayevich, that doesn't mean they actually did. Otherwise, anyone can be imprisoned. You ask someone to say they're going to bribe someone you don't like, film it, and that's it—the evidence is there. Beria nervously smokes on the sidelines.
The reformers are bending over backwards to obtain evidence. They order surveillance and searches, often in violation of all laws, but this produces no results. But the "young team" of anti-corruption activists, represented by Sakvarelidze and Kasko, have no other evidence.Read more about it in the article Vitaly Kasko – a swindler, a corrupt official, a "shot-down pilot") couldn't get it. The investigation is stalled. And it's stalled because of the "reformers'" lack of professionalism. They break the laws, but even with that violation, they can't produce results. It turns out that those declared "corrupt" aren't actually corrupt by law, but those persecuting them are most likely the real deal.
And then the media starts making one claim after another that pressure is being exerted on the investigation. And what exactly is this pressure? It's that Shapakin and Korniets, who are involved in the case, are taking it upon themselves to defend themselves, and even (what a horror!) are using lawyers. And they dare point out to the investigation clear violations of the inquiry process and search procedures! So, valiant investigators can't conduct a search and then, retroactively, obtain a court order for it. They simply don't have the right, the suspects in the case, to suspect anything themselves. For example, that they are being accused of a crime for mercenary purposes, to advance their careers. They, the suspects, are not supposed to suspect anything themselves. Their job is to sign everything the investigator gives them, label themselves "corrupt," and give interviews to journalists about how smart and clever the new "reformers" are and how right they were to send him to prison. But here's where the picture doesn't come together. The case has already begun to take a political turn, and US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt is taking control of it, constantly asking why the “diamond prosecutors” have not yet been jailed.
Nine grams in the heart, wait, don't call...
The investigation truly found itself caught between its own lack of professionalism, grandiose promises, and the lack of any results. So what would the Gestapo, and Comrades Yezhov and Beria, do? Right! Force confessions out of the suspects! Shapakin is under intense psychological pressure. They're threatening him with charges of hard drugs, possession of weapons and ammunition, and other serious crimes, hinting at a life sentence.
To keep the accused calm, they searched not his home, but that of his wife, from whom he is officially divorced. Why search the ex-wife's, since she is no longer legally related? They did it to put pressure on the defendant, since he is now causing serious nuisance to those around him.
So, how much did they find? A box was found outside the building, listed as a box, but it's believed to contain drugs. "Frankly, the box could contain anything, or even nothing at all," said Shapakin's defense attorney, Sergei Kozachenko. The second piece of evidence is a pistol without documentation. Aha! But the problem is, as Kozachenko explained to us, a pistol of this type has two numbers. Investigators recorded one number, but the second, near the barrel, was not. This means a pistol with that number could be a starting pistol. And it could have been converted to a combat pistol after the search. In any case, no connection was found between Shapakin and this pistol. As we've already mentioned, the house where the search was conducted does not belong to Shapakin.
The lawyers began reviewing the materials and concluded that Shapakin had no drugs, the gun was not his, and it is not known whether he even had one, and the money found on Shapakin was of entirely legal origin.
The investigators understand this, too. They saw that there was no chance of getting Shapakin to confess to something he didn't do. They couldn't do it even in a softer way: He doesn't want to admit to accepting a bribe? Okay, so he didn't accept it, but he assisted. And he doesn't want that? Right! Okay, let him admit to abuse of power; we're being kind today. Shapakin refuses to incriminate himself, and that takes Korniets out of the case entirely. That means one less defendant. And the defendants are now declared innocent—something needs to be done urgently, and very radically. And then a complex game unfolds. Watch the screen.
Grenades for justice
So what to do? Scare him! Only worse! Intimidate Shapakin by blaming Korniets. But how to intimidate him? Shapakin has security (which they imposed on him, to his own misfortune) and he doesn't even leave the house. He has relatives, but they've already been thoroughly battered. No results. But then they remembered—there's also the defense—Shapakin's lawyers.
And then, on November 5th of this year, explosions rocked the country house inherited by Kozachenko's lawyer from his parents. Someone threw two live grenades into the yard of the unyielding lawyer. These were very serious grenades – defensive F-1 fragmentation grenades. "It was only by a miracle that I remained alive and unharmed," Kozachenko reports. It was only by sheer luck that the shrapnel didn't harm him.
But then the next act of the "Marlezon ballet" begins. No sooner had Kozachenko filed a complaint about the attempt on his life than investigator Trofanyuk and deputy head of the GPU department, Opanasenko, showed up, immediately curious about who could have carried out this. Kozachenko, still reeling from the attack, was immediately asked to voice the theory that the whole thing was orchestrated by none other than Prosecutor Korniets, who is also involved in the case with Shapakin. Why would a man who is currently the focus of half the country's attention commit a crime in public view? Why would he do this: supposedly Shapakin wanted to confess, and Korniets decided to intimidate him. But why not Shapakin, but his lawyer? Well, those are details; logic isn't required here; the main point is the accusation. The media have already begun massively preparing for Korniets's involvement in this assassination attempt. And Kozachenko is being asked to immediately make a statement. And so, in the meantime, help the investigation, persuade Vladimir Shapakin to confess to “everything” and make a deal.
The "kind" investigators provide security for the lawyer, but he didn't appreciate this "kindness" and refused to implicate Korniets, nor, indeed, to persuade his client to plead guilty. The next day, Kozachenko's security is removed on Trofanyuk's orders. Incidentally, security is also removed from Shapakin, whom Korniets is supposedly pressuring.
Here, Kozachenko seriously and not unreasonably begins to suspect the investigators of an assassination attempt. After all, it was they, right here and now, who needed to break the lawyer, so that he would incriminate Korniets out of fear, and then the investigation would have new evidence. And perhaps Shapakin, too, would have given in, seeing how his lawyer was being pressured. It was no accident that they so eagerly pushed him to make the necessary statements, so thoroughly interrogated him about his suspicions. And as soon as the necessary statements and confessions failed to follow, they immediately realized that protecting the interests and lives of the lawyers was unnecessary; it was harmful, and they were useless.
Kozachenko’s statement addressed to Prosecutor General Shokin
All that remains is to see how far the "reformers" will sink. They have only one option: kill Kozachenko, blame it on Korniets, and thus crush Shapakin. Another option is to kill Shapakin himself and blame it on Korniets, perhaps even conspiring with Kozachenko. The investigation has been dawdling for six months, with no results, an international scandal brewing, and the "reformers" being branded fools. How else could it be? A single bribery case can't be investigated for six months; at this rate, corruption will be eradicated in the distant future.
And here, the life of some lawyer might be worth nothing; too much is at stake. Therefore, it's logical to assume that the life of lawyer Sergei Kozachenko is in danger. He has evidence of the complete incompetence and abuses of the "young team" of prosecutors. He knows too much. A second assassination attempt could have a more tragic outcome. At least the Prosecutor General's Office has removed his security detail.
Denis Sergeev, Antikor
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