Great ‘cleaning’: reputable Chief Prosecutor dismissed

UKRAINE - In Brief 06 Mar 2020 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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Yesterday, on March 5th, parliament dismissed Ruslan Ryaboshapka, Chief Prosecutor, who was seen as the person capable to break corrupt traditions in law enforcement bodies. Mr. Ryaboshapka was highly appreciated by international observers and local anti-corruption activists. Many named him clean and professional. His main ‘fault’ was non-delivery of imprisonment of top-level corrupt officials. Zelenskiy promised sentences to some big fishes promptly after elections. But prosecution takes time, a lot of time. Zelenskiy, apparently, has poor understanding about procedures of law enforcement and judicial system. His expectations were highly unrealistic. While first step of Ryaboshapka was cleaning of the very Chief Prosecutor’s office. Near 40% of prosecutors had been fired and new better quality prosecutors entered the service. The reform was seen as a success. Still Zelenskiy expected to see results (i.e. imprisonment) not the process. Against the backdrop of poor competence of the president in law enforcement area many foes of the reform successfully manipulated about Ryboshapka performance. As a result, Ruslan Ryaboshapka left his post. Sergiy Ionushas, MP of Servant of the People and former lawyer of Zelenskiy when he was in show-business, is named as the main candidate for the chair of the Chief Prosecutor. It's a very ufortunate development and very bad signal. Incompetence of Zelenskiy is the key problem. Rent-seekers have spotted this window of opportunities for them and target anyone unwanted with flow of blames on all channels. Zelenskiy simple is unable to sort out what is true and what is fake. Head of National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, Artem Sytnyk...