Region: Czechs detain Tymoshenko ally

By Yurij Onyshkiv

For the Kyiv Post

Ukrainian prosecutors are pushing for the extradition of a former economics minister detained in the Czech Republic, as Ukrainian authorities use corruption allegations to put pressure on political enemies of President Viktor Yanukovych.

Bohdan Danylyshyn, who served in former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's government, was detained in Prague Oct. 18, two months after an international arrest warrant was issued.

Prosecutors accuse Danylyshyn of causing the state 14 million hryvnias ($1.8 million) in losses as a result of state purchases he oversaw while in office.

In a September interview, Danylyshyn, a career academic who entered politics in 2007, denied the accusations and said he had nothing to fear.

Tymoshenko's opposition faction in Parliament, the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko, called the allegations political persecution, accusing Yanukovych of creating "a police state."

Following the February presidential elections and the replacement of Tymoshenko's government by allies of Yanukovych, prosecutors have pursued an anti-corruption campaign aimed exclusively at the former government.

Four high-ranking officials from Tymoshenko's government remain in detention and under investigation for alleged corruption and abuse of office.

The pressure hit a new high Oct. 14, when three U.S. firms presented a report commissioned by the Finance Ministry alleging that Tymoshenko's government had misused hundreds of millions of dollars. Tymoshenko's allies denounced the allegations as a "witch hunt."

Danylyshyn's lawyer, Stepan Ukrayinets, said Oct. 20 that the former economics minister had been detained after meeting with Ukrainian investigators in Prague.

"Danylyshyn was not hiding but getting medical treatment in Germany due to liver and spine problems," Ukrayinets said. "Ukrainian prosecutors asked him to meet them at the Ukrainian Embassy in the Czech Republic. When he showed up at the embassy, they simply handed him over to the Czech police."

Ukrayinets said this was in violation of mandatory procedures. Yuriy Boychenko, spokesman for the General Prosecutor's Office, denied the allegations. He said Ukrainian prosecutors were not there and did not take part in Danylyshyn's detention.

Deputy Prosecutor General Yevhen Blazhivsky told reporters in Kyiv Oct. 19 that the General Prosecutor's Office had begun the process of extraditing Danylyshyn.

A Czech court will now decide the merits of the order for the former Ukrainian minister's extradition, which could take several months, a Czech police spokesperson told the Associated Press.

Ukrayinets said the process might take up to six months due to numerous procedures including the translation of documents.

Serhiy Vlasenko, a lawyer and parliamentary deputy in Tymoshenko's faction, said his colleagues would try to prevent Danylyshyn's extradition by proving to the Czechs the case is political, not criminal, in nature.

This could cause an uncomfortable political standoff between Kyiv and Prague, because if the Czech court considers this case to be politically motivated, then extradition will not take place and Danylyshyn will be granted the right to remain in the country, Vlasenko said.

Ukrayinets, Danylyshyn's lawyer, could not say whether his client would apply for asylum in the Czech Republic. In the September interview, Danylyshyn denied seeking political asylum.

If he returns to Ukraine, Danylyshyn will probably land behind bars along with four other senior officials from the former government. Tymoshenko has described all the arrests as "political repression."

Former customs head Anatoliy Makarenko, former deputy chief executive of state-run Naftogaz Ihor Didenko and the former chief of regional energy customs, Taras Shepitko, were detained earlier this year on charges of damaging Ukraine for the allegedly illegal seizure of gas that the state under Yanukovych now says belongs to Swiss-based gas trader RosUkrEnergo, not the Ukrainian government, as Tymoshenko contended. As much as $5 billion in gas and fines is at stake for the Ukrainian taxpayers.

Valeriy Ivashchenko, a former deputy defense minister, is also in detention on charges of abuse of power. All four deny the charges.

Yurij Onyshkiv can be reached at onyshkiv@kyivpost.com