KIEV, Ukraine, Aug. 6 (UPI) — Ukraine subpoenaed its former President Viktor Yanukovych to testify in a corruption investigation.
The subpoena requires the ousted leader to appear at the Prosecutor-General’s Office in Kiev on August 11 for questioning related to an investigation into crimes committed under Article 191 of the Criminal Code, reported the Ukrainian Independent Information Agency.
Article 191, paragraph 5, of the code relates to the “misappropriation of property” and embezzlement of funds through the use of a public office to commit large-scale fraud.
In late November 2013, Euromaidan protests began in earnest in Kiev’s Independence Square to challenge Yanukovych’s presidency. The demonstrators resented his turning away from a long anticipated deal with the European Union in exchange for a $15 billion bailout from Russia.
On July 28, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin announced the beginning of the prosecution in absentia of six former high-ranking officials, including the ousted president. Yanukovych earlier said that he would not return to Ukraine, but was ready to testify in his case in via videoconference, reported Ukraine Today.
Yanukovych fled Ukraine in late February 2014 amid violent pro-European mass protests and took exile in Russia. He told BBC in June that he accepted some responsibility for the bloodshed that led to his eventual overthrow, but that he never ordered the security forces to open fire.
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