U.S. Embassy warns Ukraine on justice system
The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv has expressed concerns about Ukraine’s justice system at a time when the State Bureau of Investigations (known by its Ukrainian acronym as DBR) and the Prosecutor General’s Office are considering arresting former President Petro Poroshenko amid a spate of investigations involving him. In a statement posted on Facebook on June 18, the Embassy wrote in a thinly veiled message that didn’t mention Mr. Poroshenko by name that all “citizens in a democracy deserve to be treated equally and fairly under the law” and that “The justice system should not be used for the purpose of settling political scores.” Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office and the DBR have said that Mr. Poroshenko was officially informed that he is a suspect in one of more than 20 cases implicating his possible involvement, adding that they are seeking Mr. Poroshenko’s pretrial arrest. However, on June 18, prosecutors said at the hearing on possible pretrial restrictions for Mr. Poroshenko at the Pechera District Court that they were not seeking the pretrial arrest of the former president, but other restrictions instead. The hearing was then adjourned until July 1.