Court issues permission to detain Yanukovych in the case of Archbishop Oleksandr (Drabynko)’s abduction
Pechersk District Court of Kyiv allowed for the detention of former President Viktor Yanukovych as a suspect in organizing the abduction of Archbishop Oleksandr (Drabynko) to exert pressure on the late Metropolitan Volodymyr of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). This is stated in the court decision of July 31, Ukrainian News reported.
Reportedly, the Prosecutor General’s Office continues the investigation of criminal proceedings of May 21, 2014, initiated on charges of abusing the official authority by former high-ranking officials, as well as the commander and deputy commander of the special police unit Griffin during the illegal deprivation of liberty of the personal assistant of the late Primate of the UOC-MP Metroplitan Volodymyr.
The court upheld the petition and issued to the Prosecutor General's Office a permission to detain Yanukovych in order to bring him before court for participation in the hearing of a petition for selecting an interim measure in the form of detention.
A similar arrest warrant was issued against former Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko and former head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior in Kyiv Valeriy Koryak.
The court decision is not subject to appeal and expires on January 31, 2019.
On December 8, 2016, the Verkhovna Rada has agreed to prosecute the MP from the Opposition Bloc Vadym Novynskyy.
The Prosecutor General's Office suspects that the MP, together with Yanukovych, Zakharchenko and Koryak, organized the abduction of Drabynko in order to exert pressure on Metropolitan Volodymyr.
