Prosecutors of the Office of the Prosecutor General, together with SBI investigators, have completed a special pre-trial investigation regarding Viktor Yanukovych and 16 other former high-ranking officials. This was reported by the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Kravchenko, according to UNN.
This refers to criminal proceedings regarding members of a criminal organization created and led by the former President of Ukraine in 2010-2014.
"For me, this case holds special significance.
At one time, as the head of the group of prosecutors, I exercised procedural guidance in the case of Viktor Yanukovych's high treason and personally signed the indictment against him for facilitating the conduct of an aggressive war by Russia. At that time, the court found him guilty and sentenced him to 13 years of imprisonment.
Today, this work continues in the case regarding the system that was built for the illegal seizure, appropriation, and retention of state power," the Prosecutor General reported.
According to Kravchenko, the investigation established that after February 25, 2010, Viktor Yanukovych, contrary to the oath of the President of Ukraine, began to use the powers granted to him not in the interests of the state and citizens, but to establish personal control over the state apparatus.
"To this end, he involved individuals from his inner circle in the criminal organization who had experience working in state authorities, the law enforcement system, and the security sector.
Participants of this organization received key positions in the Verkhovna Rada, the Cabinet of Ministers, ministries and departments, law enforcement agencies, the prosecutor's office, the SBU, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the judicial system, local state administrations, and other state structures," Kravchenko reported.
The investigation established that the members of the criminal organization created an appearance of legal activity but actually acted in the interests of the fugitive President or in their own common interests. This system operated in almost all state spheres and regions of the country. It allowed for the planning and organization of serious and especially serious crimes.
Kravchenko also reported that a separate and extremely important block of the investigation concerned the events of the Revolution of Dignity.
In November 2013, after the refusal to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union, mass peaceful gatherings of citizens were perceived by the leadership of this organization as a threat to the further retention of power.
Viktor Yanukovych, as the leader of the criminal organization, made the decision to use law enforcement agencies and the Armed Forces of Ukraine for forceful opposition to protesters in the center of Kyiv.
The organization of these actions was entrusted to controlled heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the SBU, the Ministry of Defense, the Prosecutor General's Office, and other participants of the criminal organization.
"The consequence was the illegal obstruction of peaceful assemblies, forceful dispersals of protesters, and the most tragic events of February 18-20, 2014, on the Maidan.
In the period from November 21, 2013, to February 20, 2014, as a result of the illegal actions of the members of the criminal organization, 70 civilians died, and more than 1,200 protesters sustained bodily injuries of varying degrees of severity," Kravchenko reported.
Seventeen former top leaders of state authorities are being held criminally liable in these proceedings. In particular, Viktor Yanukovych, former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov, Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka, Minister of Internal Affairs Vitaliy Zakharchenko and his deputy, the head of the SBU and his first deputy – the head of the Anti-Terrorist Center, heads of SBU units, the Minister of Defense, the Chief of the General Staff – Commander-in-Chief of the AFU, the commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the leadership of the capital's police, officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the commander of the Kyiv special unit "Berkut".
As Prosecutor General Kravchenko reported, at the initiative of the prosecution, preventive measures in the form of detention were chosen for them. Since the suspects are hiding in the territory of the Russian Federation or in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the pre-trial investigation regarding them was carried out under a special in absentia procedure.
"In fact, the completion of the investigation is not the end. It is a transition to the next stage of accountability.
Justice takes time. But time does not cancel crimes. And it does not exempt from responsibility those who believed that power gives the right to subordinate the state, use its resources, and apply force against their own people," Kravchenko emphasized.
As a reminder
In January 2019, the Obolon District Court of Kyiv sentenced Yanukovych in absentia to 13 years in prison for high treason. Prosecutor Ruslan Kravchenko exercised procedural guidance in the criminal proceedings and represented the prosecution during the trial. In October 2020, the Kyiv Court of Appeal upheld the verdict. The Supreme Court also upheld the verdict in 2021.
In 2025, another verdict entered into legal force, according to which the former President of Ukraine was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment for organizing the illegal smuggling of persons across the state border of Ukraine and inciting desertion under Part 2 of Art. 332, Part 4 of Art. 27, Part 2 of Art. 408 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.