kyiv apartaments service

Hunt for first consul. Leonid KAPELYUSHNY | Law | Politicsprojectseditorialsubscriptionadvertising fundforumукраїнськоюпо-русскиin english/ politicsArchiveJanuary February March April May June July August September October November December 200820072006200520042003200220012000199919981997199619951994Пошук на сайтіPoliticsHome PoliticsOverseas PoliticsLawMoneyMacroeconomicsFinanceBusinessOwnershipRegional economicsAgricultureOverseas EconomicsConflict of interestsPeopleScienceCultureSocietyHistoryFamilyNewslistNewslist# 44 (623) 18 — 24 November 2006 Hunt for first consul Author: Leonid KAPELYUSHNY print version discuss e-mail a friend read later write to the editor The arrest of Foreign Ministry Consular Department Chief Vasyl Koval almost ten years ago became one of the most resonant events in Ukraine’s modern criminal history. The high-ranking official was indicted with forgery, abuse of authority, and machinations with foreign currencies. News media picked Koval to pieces for two years during the investigation and his subsequent trial. More than two hundred published articles in the press and countless TV and radio reports made the public wonder how much the diplomat had taken, selling the country by pounds and for dollars. Vague hints suggested astronomic sums. Small wonder: to obtain a service passport for traveling abroad cost as much as five thousand DOLLARS?? and Koval was in charge of issuing these passports and visas. Actually, he was the one who held the handle of the “door to Europe”. Thanks to such publications, the public knew how he had acquired apartments and private houses in this country and abroad. In Kyiv alone, journalists discovered, “at least three apartments”.On October 19, 2006, the European Court ruled that Vasyl Koval had been “subjected to tortures and inhuman conditions without cause while in custody” and that Ukraine was bound to reimburse him for moral damages. The news, however, almost went unnoticed in the Ukrainian media…Even now, having recovered from jail, Vasyl Koval does not look like that neat diplomat who used to be among the first builders of bridges between his newly independent country and the rest of the world. Even his close friends do not always recognize him.In diplomatic circles, Koval had the reputation of a scrupulous and experienced professional who always kept his word. When he was arrested, accused of crimes, and stripped of all his ranks and decorations, , more than 60 Ukrainian diplomats petitioned the top leadership to reconsider his case and raised UAH 500,000 [almost $200,000 – A.B.] – an unheard-of sum in 1998 – to pay his bail. Even foreign diplomats expressed their “surprise” at the sharp turn in Koval’s life.Ukrainian authorities – from the prosecutor general to the rank-and-file investigator – held their ground, insisting that Koval was guilty and thus helped formed public opinion… The public did not know what was happening behind the walls of the prison and what tools the investigators were using to dig up proof of Koval’s guilt.Deal or DeathAt the very first interrogation, the investigator opened with the cards: “You sell out Lazarenko and Tymoshenko, and we set you free.” He believed that Koval, who had only seen Lazarenko once or twice on TV, must have known something very secret about the former prime minister – like his accounts in Polish banks, his secret meetings with Tymoshenko, or his plots against [President] Kuchma. Searches of Koval’s office and apartment found no corroborative evidence, but Koval understood that his cooperation would decide his fate. He said honestly that he did not know anything. Then he was offered an interrogation deal including false testimony against Pavlo Lazarenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, who were not in the opposition yet but were already disfavored by Kuchma. Koval refused, knowing that he would not only have to lie. He knew that he would have to “enlist” staffers from the diplomatic missions, because prosecutors needed more evidence from more sources in Ukraine and abroad.The investigator warned Koval, “We will wipe you out unless you cooperate. The investigation will break you morally and prison will destroy you physically.”It is hard to say now why Kuchma decided to make his former pet Lazarenko his number one opponent, but his hatred was not just blind – it was maniacal. All those who were under the same cloud as accomplices to the former premier were also in for trouble.The prosecutors followed the subservient principle: “I hate the one my master hates”.Back from Foreign LandsVasyl Koval had worked in the intelligence for twenty-five years. He had never assassinated, hacked safes, or run on rooftops. Fulfilling serious intelligence missions under diplomatic cover on every continent, he had not left a single “footprint” anywhere.Colonel Vasyl Koval retired in his early forties. He decided to change his career to a purely diplomatic one, knowing that diplomacy was becoming the forefront of his newly independent country. He wanted to be helpful.Almost all intelligence agents who return to Ukraine after long years of undercover work abroad say that it is very hard for them to get used to this country anew. They see the same old rules and problems, wondering why Ukraine is still so backward while other nations have gone so far ahead, and why there are so many changes for the worse…Having returned from Poland, which was not too far away, Koval was stunned to see new faces in the highest political echelons (he knew that they did not belong there, professionally or morally). Some intelligent guys occupied high posts surrounded by swarms of advisers, consultants, and aides. He also saw more and more Ukrainians looking for a better life abroad. Like fish during a flood, they poured westward through the half-open door. They were like schools of salmon gushing forth to shallower waters – without any rights or protection.Koval headed the consular department of the Ukrainian embassy in Poland. He was actually the first diplomat in Ukraine’s independent history to take up the job that is the most important for maintaining any nation’s image – protection of Ukrainian citizens’ rights in Poland. Gennadiy Udovenko, the then foreign minister of Ukraine, said in the court when he spoke as a witness in the Koval case that up to a thousand Ukrainians were kept in Polish prisons at that time. Quite a few of them were innocent and the embassy was their only source of help. The judge and the prosecutor asked Udovenko with suspicion, “Did you help them?”The question perplexed Udovenko. “Of course we did! They were our citizens. We visited the prisons and beat down doors… But for Koval and me, Major Lysenko would still be in their jail!”The same was about hundreds of Ukrainian “shuttle vendors” robbed on Polish roads, country girls ensnared into the trap of brothels, and innocent victims of Polish gangsters and sometimes police officers.It is no secret that in the eyes of Polish police Ukrainians were first and foremost suspects. Naturally, when police found a dead body in a forest near Warsaw, they began to comb every nook, looking for “Ukrainian felons”. This time, they found an Astra revolver in businessman Petro Kyrychenko’s office. Ukrainian prosecutors later elaborated that trivial episode into one of the prime charges against Vasyl Koval. All publications and court materials mentioned Petro Kyrychenko and the revolver, but passed up two important facts: the revolver was “clean” and belonged to a different person. The Polish police certainly knew that, but locked Kyrychenko up anyway.If the Polish court had heard the case, it would have acquitted Kyrychenko. However, he did not want to wait so long to prove his innocence. He went out on bail and returned to his home city Dnipropetrovsk, leaving Polish police with another “dead case” they had contrived on their own.One may ask what Koval had to do with Kyrychenko. In fact, the consul helped him as he helped hundreds of other Ukrainian citizens in Poland. Yet, investigators decided to make the most of that episode. Returning from Poland in November 1997, Koval had all forgotten about it. The two years he had worked as the head of the consular department were his happiest. He had put in so much effort, experience, knowledge, and skill to put things in good order and make the department work as it should. Foreign Minister Udovenko had encouraged his enthusiasm and never restrained his initiative. Koval had plans to reorganize the consular service in order to cut down on human trafficking and introduce European standards. He cooperated with the parliament and had a hand in drafting many bills that built stronger legal frameworks for Ukraine’s external relations. A man of reason and experience, he understood that he was stepping on the snake’s tail and that the borderline was where powerful and privileged groups had their business interests. However, Koval did not avoid the dangers there.Old Methods in 22 VolumesThe Prosecutor General Office charged Koval with five misdeeds, alleging that he had a) signed forged documents on a car bought in Poland (exempting the owner from an import duty of UAH 85; b) purchased an apartment in Kyiv with hard currency and c) renovated it without permission; d) issued service passports to A. Milchenko and members of his family (the damage to the state amounted to UAH 255); e) helped Petro Kyrychenko to avoid criminal responsibility.A group of investigators that numbered up to 90 broke their backs for two years, trying to find at least something that would stick on Koval. They interrogated hundreds of people in Ukraine and abroad. The government spent hundreds of thousands in national and hard currency on their salaries and trips abroad. Finally, they produced 22 volumes of the criminal case. One of the most serious charges was “illegal hard currency transactions” (actually, all private transactions in hard currency were qualified as illegal – a leftover of Soviet criminal law). The prosecutor demanded seven years prison time and confiscation of Koval’s property. Also, he demanded to strip Koval of his rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.The High Court, having looked into the case, found no proof of Koval’s guilt, acquitted him of all charges, and reinstated his diplomatic rank.A case like this normally takes a qualified investigator one week at most. The Prosecutor General Office spent two years to make up the Koval case. Unfortunately, Ukrainian investigators and judges are not liable for fabricated indictments, blackmail, and pressure on suspects, for refusing to interrogate witnesses who could corroborate or disprove charges, or for manipulating facts and documents… Lawyers may argue that the Criminal Procedural Code provides for such liability, but they can hardly say why not a single investigator, prosecutor, or judge has ever answered for the existence of unjust sentences. If the laws worked in this country, a score of investigators, experts, and judges would be behind bars today, and not just for deliberately charging innocent men. They caused heavy damage to the reputation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, giving the whole world a pretext to suspect other Ukrainian diplomats of being corrupt and dishonest. The first consul is not just an official rank. It is a symbol. Now that the European Court has recognized the fact of torture applied to Koval, who will answer for that?It was clear from the start that all the indictments were “built on sand”. Investigators found that Koval “forged documents to evade the import duty on his car”, but they never bothered to question the man who was its real owner. The man lives and drives the car with authentic documents on Ukrainian roads. One had to be blind and deaf not to find that Koval never bought any apartment in Kyiv – in the national currency or dollars. The apartment in question was bought by his sister in the national currency. After all, Koval was not a fool and he would never get involved in any hard currency transactions, knowing that high officials like him were always circumspect. Helping his sister to buy the apartment, he agreed with the sellers that his sister would pay in the national currency and that they could exchange the money for dollars in a bank later, if they wished to.The investigator “worked” on the sellers the best way he could. He called one of the “witnesses” in for questioning, despite the fact that the man was bed-ridden after a stroke – officers brought him all the same. The old man suffered the stroke when he was charged with illegal hard currency transactions and the investigator demanded “truthful testimony” against Koval, threatening him with criminal prosecution. The man did not live to the trial and the investigator destroyed the interrogation records. The man’s widow blames his death on the investigation.Another witness lived to the trial and told the court how investigator Lytvynenko phoned him and asked him questions about the sale of the apartment. The investigator spoke in a friendly manner. Then he summoned the man and forced him to sign the interrogation record “on his knee,” right in the corridor, without even letting him read it! As it turned out, the contents had nothing to do with what the witness had told the investigator on the phone. The man was not a timid type – he was a retired intelligence agent with a long and commendable service record. He knew and respected Koval and he never thought that the horrible Soviet times of forged criminal cases and reprisals would come back again.Accusatory BiasA man named Alexander Milchenko died one day in a little Transcarpathian town, shortly before he was to depart together with his wife and daughter for medical treatment abroad. The man had a service passport. So did his wife and daughter, as they were members of his family. There would be nothing extraordinary about that, but for one thing: Milchenko, also known by the pseudonym Sailor, was allegedly on friendly terms with Pavlo Lazarenko. Journalists made a racket of “a former criminal ring leader on the loose with a service passport”. The indignant chorus of the stinging publications played on the public’s deep-rooted belief that a service passport was a privilege and not all people deserved to travel abroad.Vasyl Koval was charged with issuance of a service passport to Milchenko. He explained that he had an order from the Foreign Ministry. By such orders, the issuance procedure did not normally take long and applied to all members of the family. Other senior staffers of the ministry and the consular department said the same, but neither the investigators nor the judges would listen.Prosecutors indicted Koval with causing material damage to the state to the tune of UAH 255. Did they know that the consular department deducted UAH 12 million to the state budget annually and that over the years of Koval’s service at the head of the department, it replenished the state’s coffers with UAH 45 million?Formally, Koval did not violate the passport issuance procedure. He did not necessarily have to inquire about details of Milchenko’s biography. Ex-minister Udovenko attributes the incident to the notorious “phone rule” that was customary under Kuchma’s presidency: the top leaders of the state called him, Koval, or other subordinates and “grabbed them by the throat”, ordering them to issue diplomatic passports to anyone and everyone – relatives, friends, and servants. Koval was not one who obeyed just any order. Once he even ignored President Kuchma’s order (he did so at the Security Service’s request: there was information about an attempt to smuggle valuables from Ukraine).Koval informed SBU Chief Leonid Derkach about some people in Kuchma’s entourage who grossly abused their diplomatic immunity during their trips abroad. It was a risky and unfortunate move: Koval, released on bail for medical treatment, was arrested again and pressured so hard that he understood all the trouble that he was in.The trial abounded in evidence that pointed directly at Kuchma as the architect of the Koval case. He was personally watching the case of Kyrychenko, who was already Premier Lazarenko’s trusted adviser. Kyrychenko ignored invitations to Poland to testify. The Dnipropetrovsk Region Council, Minister of the Cabinet Valeriy Pustovoitenko, and Premier Lazarenko himself wrote back to Poland and their letters boiled down to “Kyrychenko is a good guy, please leave him alone”. Their letters meant little to Polish authorities but gave them some trump cards in the political game with Ukraine’s top political leadership. According to Udovenko, Cabinet staffers acted the wrong way, trying to “settle things” directly through the top offices, instead of following standard official procedures. “It should have been like this: the Premier turns to the Foreign Ministry. I order the embassy to speed up the transfer of the case to Ukraine. Then the embassy turns to Polish law enforcement. That’s the way things are done, without skipping any steps.”There are numerous examples of extradition: Moscow managed to “retrieve” CIS Secretary Borodin, Atomic Energy Minister Adamov, and even the murderers of Yandarbiyev who were extradited from Qatar. Every state must be able to defend its own right to bring its citizens to justice. This is not connivance but a signal to the international community: we are responsible for our citizens and we can establish their guilt or innocence. Sich [the powerful Cossack state that flourished in the mid- and lower Dnipro river basin in the 17th century – A.B.] never extradited anyone to any country, no matter how much the felons were wanted. However, Sich had much stronger punishments than in most European countries and crimes in Sich were quite rare. The Dnipropetrovsk clan that got hold of the reigns in those parts and the rest of the country in the mid-1990s preferred “mob rules” to laws of morality and justice.Of course, it was not normal for the Prime Minister to order Vasyl Koval to negotiate with the Polish side on transferring the Kyrychenko files to the Prosecutor General Office. On the other hand, it would have been an outrage not to obey the government! Vasyl Koval did what he was ordered to do. Finally, Second Secretary of the Embassy Bryzhatiy received a photocopy of the Kyrychenko dossier and the Astra revolver as the evidence. However, the papers and the revolver never reached the Prosecutor General Office. They simply disappeared.One may ask how it could happen when there were special rules and procedures of delivery, receipt, and registration. Bryzhatiy says that he received the Kyrychenko dossier but handed the papers over to Koval, violating the rule. “I put them in the trunk of his car so it’s Koval’s headache now.”In court, Koval presented convincing proof of Bryzhatiy’s perjury. How could Bryzhatiy put the sealed package in the car that was under repair at a service station? Koval demanded to invite witnesses who would prove that Bryzhatiy had lied. Alas, the court was after Koval…According to the prosecution, Koval destroyed the photocopy of the dossier, thus helping Kyrychenko to escape punishment and causing “irreparable damage to the reputation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the interests of Ukraine”. The accusation was absurd even if it had been true. Papers disappeared! So what? Was it so difficult to request Polish authorities to send another photocopy?Koval had twenty-five-years’ experience in intelligence. Was he so stupid not to destroy the documents without covering up the traces? For example, he could have staged a robbery or theft. Investigators had a thousand possibilities to question Kyrychenko or witnesses before the trial. But their testimonies would have left nothing of the patchwork of an indictment.“Acting in his personal interests and Petro Kyrychenko’s interests and aiming to safeguard Petro Kyrychenko against prosecution, Vasyl Koval abused his authority to the detriment of the authority and prestige of Ukraine and its diplomatic institutions and the interests of justice.”This lofty drivel was supposed to entail a sentence of five and a half years.Last Hopes for Old Mother EuropeThe imprisonment nearly crushed Koval. A few days after his arrest, he had the first hemorrhagic stroke followed by a series of hypertension strokes. His stomach ulcer and other chronic diseases worsened. Investigators left no doubts as to their serious intentions when they transferred Koval to the Zhytomyr jail – the most unbearable in terms of conditions. It cost Koval’s lawyers a lot of effort to get through to him. His wife was not allowed to see him. A second stroke hit harder, paralyzing his left side.A PGO ‘brass hat’ visited Koval a couple of times, just to say with a jeer, “Well, have you changed your mind? No? – Then stay here if you like.”If Koval had just sat their waiting for the end, the end would have come. He did not give up and kept fighting. He demanded medical aid, accused investigators of unlawful actions, and demanded from the PGO to observe the Human Rights Convention. His wife Lyudmila, a professional lawyer, was more direct: in one of her letters to the Prosecutor General, she wrote that his Stalinist methods would be exposed very soon.She was allowed to see her husband after five months. She did not recognize him – his hair had turned gray and he had lost 70 pounds. He looked utterly exhausted by pain and torture. The only thing that remained unchanged was his staunch character.Then Koval and his wife went through another eighteen months of investigation, a hunger strike that ended in a transfer from the cell in Zhytomyr to a hospital ward in Kyiv, another arrest for “improper behavior while on bail”, and the final “not guilty” verdict passed by the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv. However, the PGO still kept Koval in prison, leaving him no chance to survive.Any intelligence officer must be ready to face custody. Unfortunately, nobody teaches Ukrainian intelligence officers to survive investigations in Ukrainian prisons…Filing his lawsuit with the European Court, Koval demanded that his case be reconsidered completely. The Strasbourg judges, however, selected only one aspect from 22 volumes – tortures. No, the tortures were not medieval – no one pierced needles under Koval’s fingernails. The plaintiff suffered from tortures, being kept in inhuman conditions, being denied medical aid and medication, and being locked in a cell for four days under the temperature +2°C. It was a real torture for the sick and exhausted man to receive the same standard reply “No sufficient reasons” to his insistent requests for a meeting with his lawyer or for reading the materials of his case”. The UAH 500,000 bail went to the state’s coffers just because the investigator found his behavior “improper” without a single proof of such a behavior!This case must make a lot of people think. Why does the international court have to do our job for us, setting things right in our rotten and corrupt judicial system? Why do Ukrainian courts still wink at the means by which investigators obtain evidence?P.S. Editorial Note:The European Court’s ruling automatically entails “restitutio in integrum” – the case must be reconsidered due to newly discovered evidence. print version forum e-mail a friend read later write to the editor Реклама New messageNew messageNameEmailMessageMore articles from the sectionVasyl Onopenko: “Today’s impertinent interference with the courts is unprecedented” Alexandra PRYMACHENKO“RUSLAN”: THE SAME STORY AGAIN Vitaly KuksaSEIZURES OF UKRAINIAN PROPERTY CONTINUE ABROAD RESULTING FROM THE TMR CLAIM AGAINST THE STATE PROPERTY FUND OF UKRAINE Vitaly KuksaDEFENSELESS BEFORE THE MILITIA Lyudmyla KUCHERENKOEPOPEE OF THE RUSLAN CASE Vitaly KuksaSBU DEFENDS HUMAN RIGHTS. CITIZENS RESIST Alexandra PRYMACHENKOCopyright © 1994-2008. "Zerkalo nedeli" All rights reserved. The usage of the "Zerkalo Nedeli" copyrighted materials freely granted in case the reference (hyperlink) to the "Zerkalo Nedeli" web site is appropriately provided. 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