09:23 01.04.2013

Romaniuk not to ask for political asylum, plans to participate in election rerun

4 min read

Ukrainian opposition politician Viktor Romaniuk, who was freed from prison in Milan on March 29, plans to participate in the repeat election in his constituency No. 94, where his main rival was Tetiana Zasukha.

He said this in an interview with the Ukrainska Pravda online publication on Saturday, a day after his release from prison.

Romaniuk said he was not going to ask for political asylum in Italy, the Ukrainska Pravda reported.

"The political asylum is currently not in question. I won't take my cue from Arsen Borysovych Avakov," Romaniuk said.

Romaniuk also believes that Tetiana Zasukha had a hand in the opening of a criminal case against him in Ukraine. He recalled that a court declared invalid the votes of 30,000 electors in his favor and announced Zasukha a winner of the 2012 parliamentary elections in constituency No.94.

"As the French say, cherchez la femme. If Tetiana Volodymyrivna [Zasukha] bought 28 courts and the courts established the fact that 30,000 people did not come to the polls, then to buy investigator Zinoruk together with generals, who are hanging around her, is very simple," Romaniuk said.

The opposition politician also said that his defense team doesn't know exactly what he is charged with.

"The investigator is not giving the case file. We do not really know what I am charged with. We have nothing except for the ruling," Romaniuk said.

He said that Ukraine's request for his extradition was good for him, as it resumes a criminal case against him and gives his defense lawyers access to its materials.

"They opened a criminal case against me on January 30 and than suspended it. They put me on a wanted list on February 7. This was done so that the defense team couldn't get any documents or provide any documents or explanations. They wanted to neutralize me in this way. Now, if they are applying for extradition, it resumes the criminal case. The defense team can now get the papers to see what they have written, in order to refute these accusations," he said.

The Interior Ministry department said that Romaniuk was put on the international wanted list on February 28 in connection with the opening of criminal proceedings under Part 5 of Article 191 (property embezzlement through abuse of office) of the Criminal Code.

The decision to detain Romaniuk was made by Kyiv Shevchenkivsky District Court on February 4, and the investigator applied to the Interpol international investigative agencies.

On March 22, Romaniuk was detained on Milan, Italy.

On March 26, Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv has chosen custody as a preventive measure against the politician.

On March 27, a court in Milan started the hearing on choosing a preventive measure against Romaniuk before deciding on his extradition to Ukraine.

On March 29, Batkivschyna MP Arsen Avakov reported that Romaniuk was freed from an Italian prison.

The Batkivschyna party sees Romaniuk's arrest as politically motivated.

Romaniuk, a member of the Batkivschyna Party, ran for parliament in 2012 in single-seat constituency No. 94 (Kyiv region). He defeated Tetiana Zasukha of the Party of Regions, with a margin of nearly 10,000 votes. As a result of the rulings of Vasylkiv and Obukhiv district courts, the district electoral commission declared 33,000 votes invalid and declared the victory of Zasukha.

Former Kharkiv regional governor and member of the Batkivschyna Party Avakov was also arrested in Italy on an Interpol warrant. He was charged in January of 2012 with "the abuse of office leading to serious consequences." After his defense team provided documents arguing political persecution of their client, an Italian court refused to extradite Avakov to Ukraine. The politician ran for the Verkhovna Rada on the list of the Batkivschyna Party in the 2012 parliamentary elections and after he received a seat in the parliament, Avakov returned to Ukraine.

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