11:31 10.01.2018

Saakashvili refuses to provide investigators with patterns of his voice for examination

3 min read
Saakashvili refuses to provide investigators with patterns of his voice for examination

The results of the official examination of the audio recordings of the leader of the New Forces Movement, ex-President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, with the disgraced Ukrainian businessman Serhiy Kurchenko, while Saakashvili himself refuses to provide the investigation with patterns of his voice, will be announced soon, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yevhen Yenin has said.

"Soon we hope to publish the results of examination of tapes [audio recordings of conversations between Saakashvili and businessman Serhiy Kurchenko]," Yenin said in an interview with Channel 5, which was broadcast on Tuesday evening.

At the same time, he said that Saakashvili refuses to provide patterns of his voice. "I would like to note that he [Saakashvili] does not in any way contribute to the effective investigation of this criminal proceeding, since he has already several times dropped our requests to provide patterns of his speech [voice]. That is, this is already in some way confirms that the voice is his and the conversation took place. But all the same, we will wait for the results of the official examination," Yenin said.

The deputy prosecutor general also noted that first of all law enforcers are investigating the financing of Saakashvili's protest actions from abroad.

"Each of his [Saakashvili's] actions during the last few weeks only broadens the maneuver for law enforcement officers. That is, whether it will be Georgia or a criminal process in Ukraine, or even some third option - they are only expanding. Especially after Zhovtnevy [October Palace in central Kyiv], when Saakashvili publicly called for storming this administrative building," Yenin said.

The deputy prosecutor stressed that the leader of the New Forces Movement may avoid appearing in court for some time, but he should understand that it is also possible to bring him to court, and then the change of preventive measure will follow.

As reported, on December 29, 2017, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) Larysa Sarhan said that a phonoscope examination confirmed the authenticity of the voices of the leader of the Movement of New Forces party and former Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, and fugitive Ukrainian businessman Serhiy Kurchenko, which were recorded by Ukrainian law enforcers.

Saakashvili is suspected of a crime pursuant to three articles: Part 1 of Article 15, Part 3 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 256, Part 4 of Article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The articles, Saakashvili is charged under, provide for an attempt on an offense committed by a group of persons by prior agreement or by a criminal organization; assistance to participants of criminal organizations and concealment of their criminal activity.

On December 11, the court refused to grant the motion submitted by the prosecutor's office to choose a measure of round-the-clock house arrest to Saakashvili.

Head of Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) Yuriy Lutsenko said Saakashvili was suspected of receiving $500,000 from disgraced Ukrainian businessman Serhiy Kurchenko, a crony of Ukraine's fugitive president Viktor Yanukovych. The PGO released snippets of audio recordings with voices purported to belong to Kurchenko and Saakashvili to back up the claims. Saakashvili supporter David Sakvarelidze said that the published recordings have been doctored and that he is planning to submit them for an expert evaluation abroad.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko believes that investigators can apply to international organizations for examination of the investigation materials in the case of Saakashvili. "In order to ensure absolute openness and confidence, I do not exclude, although the investigation is independent, that the investigation can appeal for additional examination, including to international organizations," the president said on December 8.

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