Back
Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The prosecutor cited the example of Yanukovych, who was investigated, tried, and convicted after he had lost his position.
The President of Ukraine has absolute immunity while in office, and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) does not have the right to investigate proceedings against him. At the same time, materials involving the president — even if they concern conversations of third parties — are not destroyed if they are material to the case. This is what the head of SAPO, Oleksandr Klymenko, said in an interview with “Ye pytannya.”
According to Klymenko, the current legal approach relies on a decision of the Constitutional Court from 2003 year, which clarifies the scope of presidential immunity. The prosecutor stated: “he has absolute immunity, and we do not have the right to investigate any proceedings concerning the president.” According to him, members of parliament have only partial immunity with a procedure to lift it. The president has absolute immunity, and the legislation in this respect has not changed significantly.
At the same time, Klymenko emphasized: if third-party conversations include references to the president and they are relevant to the proceedings, such materials remain in the case. Only everyday conversations unrelated to the investigation are destroyed.
As an example of what happens to such materials after a president’s term ends, Klymenko cited the case of Viktor Yanukovych. He was investigated as a former president, sent to court, and received a first-instance conviction in one of the criminal cases. By court decisions, also, the Sukholochychi and Mezhyhiria residences were transferred to state ownership. The SAP head said: “a president who has lost powers is subject to investigation on general grounds. We can investigate this.”
Klymenko also answered whether presidential immunity extends to the First Lady, Olena Zelenska. He said that the law does not provide for extending presidential immunity to family members — except for certain procedures in the European Court of Human Rights. If Olena Zelenska is mentioned in case materials, she will be subject to the general procedure of accountability, like any other person involved. Whether she appears in records periodically released by NABU, the prosecutor did not comment.
Separately, Klymenko acknowledged the theoretically possible scenario in which a current president, after the end of his term, would obtain guarantees of non-prosecution in exchange for a peaceful transfer of power. In his words, changes to the Constitution are not required. It would be enough to complicate the procedure for bringing a president to accountability through amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, analogous to the impeachment procedure. A special commission or investigators and prosecutors could issue the decision, while the final say would remain with the Verkhovna Rada. However, the prosecutor noted that such a mechanism could be canceled by the next parliament, and assurances at the level of informal agreements are unreliable due to regular changes in the composition of Ukrainian institutions.
The “Dynasty” case became one of the examples where in anti-corruption investigation materials there was mention of “Vova,” although officially the person in question was not identified with the president. The published records also mentioned the construction of luxurious mansions for people referred to as “Vova” and “Andriy.” In May 2026 of NABU and SAPO reported that Volodymyr Zelensky is not a subject of the investigation, while Andriy Yermak received a suspicion in a case related to the legalization of funds for the construction of the “Dynasty.”
That is why the current explanations by Klymenko are important for understanding the status of such materials: a reference to the current president in case materials does not by itself mean that an investigation is being conducted against him, but materials may be kept if they are relevant to the case.
About the crisis of power due to corruption scandals and the “Dynasty” case, in the article “Lambs’ Silence. How Zelensky’s system pretends there is no crisis,” editor of the internal politics section of ZN.UA, Inna Vedernikova, writes.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Голова САП Клименко: імунітет президента абсолютний, поки він при владі". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZN.ua.
