Former prosecutors dismissed after the “purge” are working in the Office of the Prosecutor General and the SBI

Prosecutors of the General Prosecutor’s Office who were dismissed after the 2019 year attestation as “not of integrity” are today continuing to work in law enforcement agencies: the Office of the Prosecutor General, the State Bureau of Investigations, and other agencies. This is reported in an investigation by Danylo Mokryk for Bihus.Info.

For more than a year, the Bihus.Info editorial team tried to gain access to the attestation materials for General Prosecutor’s Office prosecutors from 2019 year. In the end, only through the courts were they able to obtain from the Office of the Prosecutor General several hundred Personnel Commission decisions on prosecutors’ unsuccessful attestation. These decisions make it possible to learn exactly why prosecutors were “failed” at interviews and, as a result, dismissed.

It turned out that a significant portion of those dismissed as “not of integrity” then continue to work. Some of them were hired into other positions in the Office of the Prosecutor General’s apparatus, others went to work in the State Bureau of Investigations, and some were reinstated in the Office of the Prosecutor General through the courts.

One example is former prosecutor Maksym Sotchenko. Personnel Commission decision No. 7 lists two incidents that led to doubts about his integrity.

First, in 2018 year Maksym Sotchenko was drinking alcohol with unknown people on a commuter train—and lost consciousness. “Sotchenko M.M. regained consciousness already on the premises of the suburban railway station of the city of Kyiv and discovered that his personal belongings were missing, including his service ID and a hunting shotgun,” the Commission decision says.

Second, the following year there was an incident involving prosecutor Sotchenko near the town of Kagarlik in Kyiv region, when he was returning from an unsuccessful hunt—and decided to shoot at birds by the road.

“His attention was drawn to birds that were located on high-voltage power lines at a distance of approximately 150–200 meters from the road, which the prosecutor identified as wild pigeons (turtle doves). Given his unsuccessful hunting, the prosecutor decided to stop and try to hunt the mentioned birds,” the decision states.

The Commission concluded that Maksym Sotchenko by such behavior discredited the prosecutorial bodies and therefore is subject to dismissal.

However, already in August of 2020 year Sotchenko was hired by the Office of the Prosecutor General to the position of deputy head of a unit in the Department for Oversight of Lawfulness by the National Police.

Another former prosecutor who was dismissed during attestation but then taken on in the apparatus is Oksana Stretovych. Personnel Commission No. 6 decided that Stretovych did not meet ethics and integrity requirements because she “leaked” information from the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations to outside persons.

“The Commission has reasonable doubts about Stretovych O.O.’s compliance with requirements of professional ethics and integrity in terms of unjustified review of information in the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations and causing a leak of official information by providing data from the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations to third parties,” the decision reads.

Despite this, in September of 2020 year Oksana Stretovych was hired by the Office of the Prosecutor General as a senior specialist in the information support unit of one of the Departments.

Another portion of prosecutors dismissed after attestation now work in the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI). For example, Artem Yablonsky is serving as deputy head of the department handling “Maidan cases.” During attestation he was dismissed because, during the Revolution of Dignity, he persecuted… participants of the Revolution.

The Commission’s decision on Artem Yablonsky’s unsuccessful attestation states that it was made “due to the revealed absence of a principled and consistent moral-legal position in his assessment of his own role during the events of the Revolution of Dignity, ignoring the principle of equality of all before the law and the court, and attempts to adapt to the current socio-political situation.”

Former prosecutor Ruslan Liashko, who now works as director of the SBI’s territorial office in the city of Lviv, was also found to be not of integrity during the General Prosecutor’s Office prosecutors’ attestation in 2019 year. The decision states:

“The Commission has reasonable doubts about the prosecutor’s compliance with the requirements of integrity, in particular regarding violations of moral norms outside of service and the accuracy of the information provided in the declaration.”

Bihus.Info journalists asked the Office of the Prosecutor General and the State Bureau of Investigations to comment on the employment of individuals who were “cleansed” in the General Prosecutor’s Office attestation in 2019 year. The Office of the Prosecutor General did not provide any response to the request. The SBI, meanwhile, replied that it does not possess information about the results of previous competitions and attestations of its employees.

Besides such cases of “voluntary” hiring, there are also a number of prosecutors who were reinstated in their positions through the courts. In particular, the prosecutor who was dismissed during attestation, Rustam Sutko, won a case to be reinstated—he is the brother of the People’s Deputy from OPZZh Suto Mamoyan.

In 2019 year Personnel Commission No. 1 made a negative decision regarding Rustam Sutko, considering that he used his powers for the benefit of his family.

“In 18.06.2018 year he requisitioned criminal proceedings materials from Kyiv Local Prosecutor’s Office No. 7. The aforementioned proceeding concerned illegal activities of a business entity whose ultimate beneficial owner is Sutko’s father R.Ch.,” the decision says.

Rustam Sutko successfully appealed the Commission’s decision and his dismissal. The decision in his favor was issued by the Kyiv District Administrative Court, and later upheld by the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal. This year Rustam Sutko has already submitted an employee declaration to the Office of the Prosecutor General.

The aforementioned prosecutor Maksym Sotchenko, despite already working in the Office of the Prosecutor General, is also seeking reinstatement to a prosecutorial position through the courts. In July the Kyiv District Administrative Court already issued a first-instance decision in his favor.

Recall that the “purge” of the General Prosecutor’s Office was launched by then-Prosecutor General Ruslan Riaboshapka in 2019 year. According to the attestation results, the General Prosecutor’s Office reported that more than 700 “not of integrity” prosecutors were dismissed, which constituted over 50% of the central apparatus staff.