Ukrainian ex-minister gets asylum

Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg has thrown his weight behind the granting of political asylum to a former Ukrainian minister accused of abusing his powers, despite sharp criticism from his Ukrainian counterparts over the decision.

The Interior Ministry confirmed to The Prague Post it had "granted international protection to Bohdan Danylyshyn," but spokesman Vladimír Řepka declined to comment on the details of the asylum hearings.

Danylyshyn, a former economy minister, was released from custody Jan. 14 after the Prague State Attorney's Office issued an order for his release.

The office said it would also express the "inadmissibility of his extradition to Ukraine" following the granting of political asylum, spokeswoman Štépánka Zenklová told journalists.

"I fully respect the asylum proceedings result," Schwarzenberg told the Czech News Agency (ČTK) Jan. 14. "I share the apprehension that the applicant's case would not be handled justly in Ukraine and that his prosecution may be politically motivated."

He added he hoped longstanding relations with Ukraine would not be affected by the move.

"Our countries are tied through historical relations, cultural and personal," Schwarzenberg said. "Many Czechs found their new home in Ukraine in the past, and many Ukrainians live in the Czech Republic."

Reaction in Ukraine has been sharply divided, with the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry slamming the decision and the political opposition to President Viktor Yanykovych hailing the news as international recognition of their persecution.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Voloshyn said he believed the ruling made no sense.

Danylyshyn "has never been engaged in politics in his life, so to talk even hypothetically about his political persecution is meaningless. He only started talking about being an alleged political refugee when he was arrested," the spokesman told the Interfax news agency Jan. 14.

Speaking to journalists after his release, Danylyshyn expressed thanks to the Czech government for the steps it took in his case, and said that unlike Ukraine, the Czech Republic was a European Union state that respected the principles of freedom and democracy. 

The former minister later said he believed the asylum decision was proof that political reprisals are being mounted in Ukraine.

"Criminal cases are launched against former officials while criminal cases against those who are now in power are being closed," Danylyshyn told The Kyiv Post Jan. 15.

He also told the paper he "would not stop cooperating" with Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna Party, adding he hoped democracy would eventually triumph in Ukraine.

Members of the Ukrainian opposition welcomed the Czech decision, including former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is herself being prosecuted in Ukraine along with other members of her former government.

Andriy Shkyl, deputy chairman of the Blok opposition parliamentary grouping, told ČTK the decision effectively confirmed that the Czech Republic recognized the existence of political repression against the opposition by the current Yanykovych government.

Danylyshyn served as Ukraine's economy minister from the end of 2007 until Tymoshenko's government fell in a parliamentary vote of no confidence in March 2010.

He was detained by Czech police Oct. 18 on an international arrest warrant. Before asylum was granted, he unsuccessfully appealed to Prague High Court in November against both his arrest and his extradition.

Danylyshyn has been accused of abusing his ministerial powers to a total cost of 13.9 million hryvnia (31 million Kč). Authorities say he gave preferential treatment to a firm delivering fuel and car lubricants to the state in 2007.

He has also been accused over negotiations on the purchase of fuel for the country's Defense Ministry in 2008 and a single-bid construction tender for a new parking lot at Terminal D of Kyiv's Boryspil Airport. Danylyshyn denies all the allegations.

Just nine Ukrainians were granted asylum in the Czech Republic out of 203 applicants in 2009, mostly for humanitarian reasons, ČTK reported, citing the latest available figures.

- Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report.

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Bill Lehane can be reached at
blehane@praguepost.com