15:22 07.03.2013

Prosecutor General's Office says Rabynovych filed complaints about threats in January, Interior Ministry now dealing with issue

3 min read

Prosecutor General's Office says Rabynovych filed complaints about threats in January, Interior Ministry now dealing with issue

Kyiv, March 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Well-known Ukrainian businessman, co-chairman of the European Jewish Parliament (EJP) and president of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress Vadym Rabynovych filed complaints with the Prosecutor General's Office in January 2013 about threats against him, the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office has reported.

"On January 22, it [the appeal] was forwarded to the Interior Ministry to conduct a respective inspection and make a decision within the current law," the press service told Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.

As reported, a bomb exploded in the afternoon on March 4 in the center of Kyiv near Rabynovych's office at 14 Mechnykova Street, next to a parked car. The former editor of the Stolichniye Novosti newspaper, Volodymyr Katsman, said that it was an attempt on Rabynovych's life, and that the bomb had been thrown at the car as Rabynovych was leaving the courtyard. The explosion caused no injuries, but the Lexus 570 sustained minor mechanical damage.

On March 5, Kyiv police started criminal proceedings on charges of hooliganism in connection with the blast that occurred near Rabynovych's office.

Rabynovych said he did not rule out that the blast was a sign of the current government's discontent with the Jewish News One (JN1) television channel he runs.

He said at a press conference in Kyiv on March 6 that some time ago he Party of Regions MP Andriy Derkach visited him and demanded that he give away the JN1 channel, otherwise the businessman would face "big problems."

Rabynovych also suggested that the assassination attempt could have been organized by nationalist forces.

"And I want to emphasize that we will continue the same work on Jewish subjects. As for Svoboda, as long as they don't reconsider their views, I will deal with them, both here and in Europe," he said.

"We regularly receive threats, and there are regular anti-Semitic acts that arose after a certain force came to power. But it's also a natural process, and we must understand this. The share of some nationalist structures in Hungary and Germany is 10-12% against the background of the economic crisis and disappointment with the authorities," Rabynovych said.

Derkach, in turn, described these accusations as lies and provocation.

The leader of the Svoboda All-Ukrainian Union, Oleh Tiahnybok, also rejected Rabynovych's suspicions about the possible involvement of members of his party in the explosion, calling such claims "nonsense."

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