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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
How to technically remove powerful prosecutors from leadership in the SAP
Historically, the structure of the SAP’s prosecutorial divisions was built to correspond to the structure of NABU’s detective units: each numbered SAP division exercised procedural leadership over the cases of the corresponding NABU detective unit. This principle was explicitly enshrined in the first Regulation on the SAP, approved by Order of the Prosecutor General No. 149 of 12.04.2016, and was retained in the subsequent Regulation.
At the start of the full-scale war, the SAP had six divisions. Five of them had full-fledged chiefs; in the fifth division the duties of the head were performed by an acting chief.
After the invasion began, a number of SAP prosecutors voluntarily went to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Among them were the head of the second division, Kravchenko; the third — Krychun; the fourth — Symkiv; and the sixth — Kozachyna.
In the summer of 2022 the head of the SAP was appointed Klimenko, and his deputy, following a competition with international participants, became Mindich’s faction member Synyuk.
A restructuring of the organization then began, the result of which was the effective removal of the old division heads from managing prosecutors. For the new leadership these were inconvenient people: experienced, independent, holding their own positions and, most importantly, with the lawful right to return to their leadership posts after finishing their military service.
Against their background Klimenko appeared as a pale toadstool. None of them would have let him trade deals with Zlochevsky, Kaufman, Borukhovych, Hranovskyi, Knyaziev, or Pashynskyi.
They solved the problem in a cop-style way, in the style of Sasha-Desyatka (that was Klimenko’s nickname from his time at the Ministry of Internal Affairs).
In January of 2024 the SAP structure was changed: instead of six divisions there were left five. Division chiefs, including those who were fighting at the time, were transferred to ordinary prosecutor positions. Formally — at their “voluntary” requests. In practice, people who had passed a competition for administrative positions lost their posts due to the structural change.
After that a new competition for leadership positions was announced. And through the competition commission that included that same Synyuk, people who had previously worked with Klimenko at NABU and who would NEVER have gotten into the SAP if Klimenko were not there took key administrative positions.
The main explanation for the reduction in the number of divisions at the time was that the SAP’s structure supposedly had to correspond to NABU’s structure.
Now it gets even more interesting.
Today the SAP has announced a new competition for 10 vacant prosecutor positions, as well as a separate competition for the head of the sixth division — the same division that was liquidated in 2024 and is now being reinstated.
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So in 2024 the sixth division was liquidated, using the structural change as a pretext to transfer sitting division chiefs to ordinary prosecutor positions. Now the sixth division is quietly being created again and a competition for a new chief is announced.
At the same time NABU’s structure, which two years ago was used to justify the SAP’s cuts, has not changed.
Even more interesting is that the competition is being announced for temporarily vacant prosecutor positions held by people who are now serving in the military. Either their return to the SAP is no longer being counted on, or these people have been written off in advance.
The treatment of prosecutors who went to fight did not end there — they were evicted from their official offices without notice, not issued new official IDs, and access to SAP premises was restricted — despite the fact that legally they continue to remain prosecutors.
It turns out that while some SAP prosecutors volunteered for the front, in Kyiv their leadership posts were first liquidated, then handed out to other people, and now some of those very posts are being recreated.
When the war ends and these people return from service, I think they will have something to say to Klimenko about such treatment of those who in 2022 chose the Armed Forces of Ukraine over offices.
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