The editor of a disgraced Ukrainian publication who asked for political asylum in Austria has been put on the wanted list
The editor-in-chief of the Strana.ua publication, Igor Guzhva, who at the beginning of the year asked the Austrian authorities for political asylum, was put on the wanted list, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
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This decision was made in the Shevchenkovsky District Court of Kyiv, Channel 5 reports.
The prosecutor's office requested this. The reason stated is that the suspect is allegedly evading the investigation.
“The general search is provided for by the Code of Criminal Procedure. A person who evades the investigation is put on the wanted list. When his location is established, he will be detained,” the prosecutor said.
At the same time, lawyers assure that their client is receiving treatment abroad and will return to Ukraine on February 20.
“I think this is premature. And the court was provided with all the certificates stating that he is now being treated. Therefore, this decision is premature,” says Guzhva’s lawyer Elena Klimenko.
Let us briefly remember the chronology of the “Guzhva case”. On June 22, 2017, a search was carried out in the editorial office of Strana.ua, after which Igor Guzhva was taken to a pre-trial detention center. The Prosecutor General's Office stated that, through an intermediary, Guzhva allegedly demanded and received 10 thousand dollars for not posting incriminating evidence on the people's deputy from the "Radical Party" Dmitry Linko.
On June 24, the Shevchenkovsky District Court of Kyiv took Guzhva into custody for 60 days with the possibility of bail of 544 thousand hryvnia. On June 27, Guzhva was released from the pre-trial detention center after posting bail for him. On August 1, it became known that the Security Service allegedly discovered secret information from the Ministry of Defense on a flash drive seized in Guzhva. Guzhva denied this statement. On September 22, the Shevchenkovsky District Court of Kyiv extended Igor Guzhva’s preventive measure for another 30 days.
At the end of September, Guzhva announced that the investigation into the case of accusing him of extortion from People's Deputy Linko had been completed. In addition, according to him, the State Fiscal Service “received an order to urgently make” him a suspect in another case: “Tax officials came up with the idea that I allegedly paid the tax incorrectly on the dividends I received in 2013.” Guzhva also claimed that 5 cases were being “fabricated” against him.
At the end of January 2018, Guzhva left Ukraine for Vienna and asked the Austrian authorities for political asylum. On February 2, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said that the GPU would seek confiscation of Guzhva’s bail and an international search for him. On February 6, the court recovered more than a million hryvnia of the bail paid for Guzhva to the budget and gave permission for his detention.
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