POROSHENKO'S CHURCH DREAM PLAYED A DIRTY TRICK ON HIM
by Anton Skripunov
Whether Poroshenko properly intervened in church affairs, a court will now decide. Ukrainian social activists accuse the president of exceeding his authority and violating the constitution. RIA Novosti's article deals with possible alternatives for the development of events.
To prison
In the Vladimir cathedral of Kiev, which was seized by schismatics from the canonical Ukrainian church in 1992, one can see one of the darkest works by the famous artist Viktor Vasnetsov. The gaze of all visitors to the church is unwillingly drawn to his fresco "The Last Judgment." Surely Petro Poroshenko also saw it when he worshipped there on Easter, the day before meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew on 9 April, at which the president, according to his own frequent statements, agreed on the creation of an "independent church." Did the state leader guess on that Easter night that a court case awaited him also? And in the very near future and according to civil laws.
It is this that is now wanted in Ukraine. Lawyers for the public organization "Supremacy of Law" filed a lawsuit accusing the president of exceeding his authority. In their opinion, he did not have the right to appeal to the patriarch of Constantinople requesting autocephaly. This was a "direct interference in church affairs" and a violation of article 35 of the constitution, which says: "The church and religious organizations in Ukraine are separate from the state."
"At the end of the appeal (with the request for autocephaly—ed. note) it points out that Petro Poroshenko signed it not as a private person but specifically as one with government authority—the president of Ukraine. Therefore the appeal in its legal nature is a decision of the president, . . . inasmuch as it was posted on the official website. The plaintiff considers that the defendant, as one with government authority, does not have the competence for signing an appeal and sending it," the legal suit says.
What is amazing is that the district administrative court of Kiev accepted it for consideration and has already scheduled the first session on this matter for 13 November. As the composer of the lawsuit, the lawyer Sergei Kovalev, explained for RIA Novosti, there are many options for the development of events.
"The possibility that the lawsuit will be shelved also cannot be ruled out. But if you take up the case with this attitude it is better not to take it up at all," he noted.
The main goal, he said, is to establish the president's violation of the constitution. If this happens, then it is quite likely that "facts established in the course of judicial consideration will become the basis for a separate criminal proceeding." For example, article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, "Exceeding power or official authority," provides for from two to five years in prison.
"It will be difficult for the court to make a legal decision, because the judiciary is now under enormous pressure. However we do not doubt that there are in Ukraine honest and principled judges," Kovalev is sure. He said that Ukrainian citizens "have turned rather often" to court with suits against Poroshenko. But the fact that he got into church affairs overtly will be considered for the first time.
"For the prosecution of Poroshenko, so many reasons and suits can be found that this new one will not change anything decisively. But I consider that it is necessary to go ahead with such appeals; this creates an atmosphere that we still are not living in a totalitarian country. We understand: our judiciary is such that there is no hope for an objective consideration of the case in court. Nevertheless I support the lawyers' initiative," the director of the Kiev Center of Political Investigations and Study of Conflict, Mikhail Pogrebinsky, commented on the situation for RIA Novosti.
From the bag
The number of those who "hunger and thirst for justice" in Ukraine has grown in recent months. And all because of numerous accusations of Poroshenko and his comrades in accommodating corruption.
Thus, in July the National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine (HABU) received a report from the former deputy prosecutor general, Renat Kuzmin, requesting to verify whether Poroshenko on 9 April really personally transferred to Patriarch Bartholomew a bribe of 25 million dollars. Supposedly he collected this money from Ukrainian businessmen while he appropriated 15 million for himself.
Information about this leaked to the Ukrainian news media. According to information from RIA Novosti's sources close to the Ukrainian prosecutor general's office, the appropriation was made through publications controlled by the secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council, Alexander Turchinov.
Renat Kuzmin told RIA Novosti that his appeal suffered a sad fate. Neither the NABU nor the Special Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) nor the prosecutor general's office (GPU) responded in any way to the complaint, although by law they were required to do so.
"The heads of SAP and NABU never occupied independent offices in their life; none of them even directed a village club. How could these people cope with the tasks on a governmental scale? NABU did not conduct any investigation on the basis of my statement and the directors of SAP and GPU simply closed their eyes to it. I had to send a complaint to court in order to force them to confirm by investigation information about a possible appropriation of 15 million dollars by President Poroshenko, allegedly collected for resolving the issue of the creation of a united local Orthodox church. The Solomensk court of Kiev will consider this case on 17 October," he noted. And the reason, in his opinion, is the "total corruption and incompetence of leaders of NABU, SAP, and GPU, who love money pathologically and are completely unable to work."
The same fate
The president's administration reacted to the lawsuits of the social activists in a completely predictable way.
"I see that Russia cannot reconcile themselves to the Ukrainians' right to their own church. Already lawsuits have appeared in court," the press secretary of the head of state, Sviatoslav Tsegolko, told journalists.
The fate of Poroshenko himself is also predictable: it is easier "for a camel to go through the eye of a needle" than for him to retain power. At least, experts are sure of that.
"There are no doubts that Poroshenko will leave; it will be impossible for him to remain in the country," political scientist Vitaly Leibin is sure.
He added that not one of the Ukrainian political leaders is able to feel safe. There are precedents: in 2011 a criminal case was opened against former prime minister of Ukraine Yulia Timoshenko "for exceeding her power and official authority in concluding gas agreements with Russia in 2009." In all, she spent three and a half years behind bars.
In the event of loss of power, the political scientist suggests, Poroshenko may suffer the same fate. The experts consider that he is only to be condemned for attempting "to realize a dream" about some "independent church," by an illegal route. Speaking in biblical language, in all likelihood the current Ukrainian authorities face "weeping and gnashing of teeth." (tr. by PDS, posted 4 October 2018)
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