Region: Murder-for-hire trial implicates Tymoshenko

The case of Yulia Tymoshenko, the former prime minister of Ukraine, has taken a new turn. Already sentenced to seven years in prison and slammed with a large monetary fine for abusing her powers and money laundering, Tymoshenko now faces a life sentence. She is believed to be involved in the murder of Yevhen Shcherban, a member of Parliament and a Donetsk businessman, back in 1996.

Shcherban was shot at the Donetsk airport upon arriving from Moscow. The killers, who drove away from the crime scene, also shot the businessman's wife and a driver. Later, the airport mechanic died in the hospital from the injuries he sustained.

In 2001, Donetsk resident Vadim Bolotskych admitted to having killed Shcherban. Two years later, he was sentenced to life in prison. During court hearings, Bolotskiy never mentioned Tymoshenko's complicity in the case. But the Ukrainian prosecution believes Tymoshenko and then-Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko ordered the killing of Shcherban. Lazarenko is currently considered the eighth-most corrupt politician in the world by Transparency International.

"Both Lazarenko and Tymoshenko transferred the money. First, Lazarenko personally paid $500,000 to the gang. Later, $2.3 million was transferred, and Tymoshenko organized the transfers," Attorney General Viktor Pshonka said Jan. 18. That day, Tymoshenko was officially announced to be under suspicion.

According to prosecutors, the alleged motives of the ordered killing were of "selfish business interests." At the time, Tymoshenko headed the gas company United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU), while Shcherban oversaw a rival company, the Industrial Union of Donbass.

"Shcherban didn't want to give up his business to UESU," Pshonka said. "The cause of the argument was gas and the gas price."

Tymoshenko's personal reaction to the accusation, passionate as most of her statements, was published on her personal website. "I know that you, just like me, are shocked by the new accusations. [...] Be calm and confident as I am: These loud accusations are the agony of Yanukovych's hysteria. He knows all the criminal cases against me fell apart, turned out to be empty political dirt and, in the nearest future, after the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, he will have to free me."

Tymoshenko's defense team interprets the accusations as another political attack against her. "Now we are seeing an escalation of the situation around Tymoshenko. Charging her according to the article that presupposes a life sentence means the government has crossed all the lines and is ready to destroy her physically," Tymoshenko's lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko told Ukrainian media. "If Tymoshenko could be executed, she would be."

The drama around the case escalated before the first court meeting. First, Tymoshenko announced that the prosecution failed to grant her defense full access to the case materials. Later, she declined the offer to watch the court proceedings from her prison cell via video chat, demanding permission to come to the court in person. Therefore, the first court session was moved to Feb. 13.

The hearings rely heavily on the testimony of three witnesses: Igor Maryinkov, who was a businessman in Donetsk back in 1996; Serhiy Zaytsev, a businessman from Dniepropetrovsk; and Volodymyr Shcherban, the former governor of the Donetsk region.

"I wonder how the prosecutors want to prove that the money came from Tymoshenko to the killers. … The only relevant proof would be a confession (impossible), a record (nonexistent) or witnesses (contradictory statements so far)," says Petr Kratochvíl from Prague's Institute of International Relations. "I am really curious about the trial, but I do not think Tymoshenko's guilt can be proved."

Tymoshenko claims not to know the two witnesses personally. Their testimony, too, is largely built on rumors and backstage business and politics of the wild 1990s era, which will likely be difficult to prove. The wildcard of the case, and one who might be able to determine Tymoshenko's future, is the imprisoned hit man Bolotskych. So far, he has remained silent on the Tymoshenko-Lazarenko link.

Anna Shamanska can be reached at
features@praguepost.com