Families of Heroes of Heavenly Hundred propose their candidacy for post of Prosecutor General

The families of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred and the public require a transparent competition for the post of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine and suggest considering the candidacy of Serhiy Horbatiuk.

This statement was made by Volodymyr Bondarchuk, the son of fallen hero of the Heavenly Hundred Serhiy Bondarchuk, the secretary of the NGO “Families of Heroes of Heavenly Hundred.”

According to him, the most important thing right now is the investigation into the cases against the activists of the Revolution of Dignity and prosecution of those responsible for the deaths of the Heavenly Hundred.

“The cases over crimes committed during the Revolution of Dignity are the indicator of whether something has changed in our country,” Bondarchuk said.

In his opinion, certain results in this direction have appeared only after the establishment of the Special Investigations Department at the Prosecutor General’s Office. Therefore, the activists suggest considering the candidacy of Head of this department Serhiy Horbatiuk for the post of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

“It was he who was able to achieve specific results we have seen in his reports, including his examination of weapons and identification of the persons involved in the murder of our relatives on February 20,” said the son of the hero of the Heavenly Hundred.

The Prosecutor General’s Office requires a radical change, notes Pavlo Sydorenko, the coordinator of the initiative group of those injured during the Maidan protests.

“There is only one small clean island in this rotten sea of the General Prosecutor’s Office now. This island, the Special Investigations Department, has survived because its leader saves it from the mud of corruption,” he said.

According to Roman Maselko, the lawyer of Automaidan movement, the member of the Lawyers Advisory Group, all the crimes against Maidan may be solved but this requires political will and desire.

“First of all, the Prosecutor General’s Office shall be guided by the law. It should hear and rely on the society. The society should be the key customer whom the Prosecutor General is working for…” Maselko said. The lawyer also called for public discussion of the candidates for the post.

All three previous Prosecutor Generals promised three things to the public after the Euromaidan protests, says Oleksandra Matviychuk, the coordinator of Euromaidan SOS initiative, the chair of the Center for Civil Liberties. Their promises were as follows: the return to Ukraine of the assets obtained as a result of corruption activities, the investigation of crimes committed during Euromaidan protests and conduct of a radical and comprehensive reform of the prosecutor’s office.

“As you can see, all three Prosecutor Generals failed to perform those tasks, of course, with varying degrees of poor progress,” Matviychuk said. According to her, if the appointment to this position happens as before, the next Prosecutor General will not cope with these problems as well, because the political parties cannot cope with them on their own.