A hot topic in Ukrainian politics in recent months — the “coal treason” case, the main defendant of which was the fifth president, Petro Poroshenko, this week made me wonder how far the country has reached eight years after the “revolution of dignity” and “Euromaidan”.
The chronology of events on Monday, January 17, when the Pechersky District Court of Kiev held a hearing in the case of Petro Poroshenko, accused under three articles of the Criminal Code (“Terrorist financing”, “Treason”, and “Creation of a terrorist organization”), allows us to conclude that this day has every chance of becoming the most insane in the history of Ukrainian madness in recent years.
From the very morning, when Petro Poroshenko, after a month's absence, flew from Warsaw to Kiev and went straight from the airport to the Pechersky District Court, which was to consider a petition to change the measure of restraint for the former president - his arrest, the intrigue was spinning ever steeper and became more and more unpredictable.
Not fully understanding whether Poroshenko would be able to appear in court voluntarily or be taken into custody immediately after arriving in Kiev, several hundred of his supporters rushed to the airport as a support group, which made him feel like a hero.
The very meeting of the Pechersky District Court of Kiev, to which the accused ex-president and oligarch defiantly rode the bus along with mere mortals, became a theater of the absurd, which is best described by the word “zashkvar” (“zashkvar” that came into modern Russian from prison jargon) - to do something wrong, to get dirty, to lower one's status).
In the middle of the day, a video from the courtroom spread around the social network, in which Petro Poroshenko, tired from a night flight, turns off for a moment and suddenly falls asleep at the most intriguing moment, when a representative of the prosecution utters words about a criminal group that traded in Donbass coal, calling it a “centaur”, “ monster."
The climax of the madness was the events of Monday evening.
Having retired to the deliberation room, the court continued to deliberate and could not get out of it, then, with reference to the Ukrainian TV channel 24, the news came through like lightning that judge Aleksey Sokolov became ill and an ambulance was called for him.
However, in the office of the court, this information was denied, without specifying whether everything is in order with Judge Sokolov himself.
During the day, the status of Petro Poroshenko on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine also changed.
Until the evening, his profile was posted in the "Wanted" section, where he was listed as "a person who is hiding from the pre-trial investigation authorities."
However, in the end, the profile of the ex-president disappeared from the list of wanted persons.
At the same time, all these passions-muzzles on Monday in the Pechersky District Court did not lead to anything in the end.
Closer to the night it became known that the decision on choosing a measure of restraint for the fifth president of Ukraine had not been made.
The court decided to meet again on Wednesday, January 19.
The piquancy of the situation is that already on January 24, Petro Poroshenko should go to Brussels for a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Inter-Parliamentary Council, where he was invited by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
Handing over a passport and putting on an electronic bracelet, as being under house arrest would require him, is clearly not included in his plans.
“They decided to announce the decision at Epiphany,” Petro Poroshenko spoke almost in verse, leaving the courtroom, thanking his supporters for their support.
“Something went wrong with them.
So far, their script has failed.
Today we didn’t win the war, we didn’t even win the battle, but we didn’t let them advance,” the leader of the European Solidarity party urged to prepare for new battles.
On the eve of returning home, Petro Poroshenko wrote down an appeal to President Zelensky, in which he made it clear that he was accepting the challenge and was ready to fight the head of state. Calling his return “bad news” for Volodymyr Zelensky, Petro Poroshenko emphasized that he was flying to Kiev not to defend himself, but to “defend Ukraine.”
“You are trying to do what every person who claims to be a dictator does. You want to return the majority system in order to buy votes for buckwheat, because this is your only chance. You want to eliminate the open list electoral system. You are afraid of parliamentary elections, and therefore you want to postpone them. Because after the parliamentary elections, you have no chance of taking the presidential election, ”Pyotr Poroshenko lists his claims to Vladimir Zelensky. In addition, in his opinion, President Zelensky is not actively confronting the threat of "Russian aggression."
Recall that Petro Poroshenko is accused of participating in the implementation of a "criminal scheme for supplying coal from the temporarily occupied territories and assisting the terrorist organizations" LPR "and" DPR "by a group of citizens of Ukraine."
If found guilty, he faces up to 15 years in prison with or without confiscation of property.
Shortly before his return, on January 6, the Pechersky District Court seized Poroshenko's property: apartments, land plots, corporate rights and shares in investment funds, television and radio companies, insurance companies, banks and other institutions and enterprises.
True, these measures did not affect the Roshen confectionery factory - the "chocolate king" of Ukraine, understanding what country he lives in, managed to transfer it to his eldest son Alexei.
The main absurdity of the situation is that Petro Poroshenko is accused of "assisting terrorism", while it was during his reign that the unrecognized republics of Donbass - the DPR and the LPR - were declared by official Kiev to be "terrorist organizations".
That is, if you think about it, Petro Poroshenko is proclaimed the main sponsor of those with whom he fought with even more fury than Vladimir Zelensky.
The war in Donbass is part of his legacy, it was he who entered the history of independent Ukraine as the president of the war.
Volodymyr Zelensky, who never became the president of the world, stopped a step away from his war in the Donbass and became very similar to his antagonist.
This does not in the least prevent him from trying to remove Petro Poroshenko from the scene with the help of the “coal treason” case.
The political winter in Kiev, with the participation of the former and current presidents, continues: Ukraine has been overwhelmed.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.