MP Onyschenko calls for respecting 'presumption of innocence' vis a vis self
MP and member of the People's Will faction of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Onyschenko has arrived at the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) to meet with NABU head Artem Sytnyk.
"There have been a lot of accusatory words from the NABU about me, but no one until now has contacted me or given me anything. The first thing I request is that the presumption of (my) innocence be respected and the PR campaign and statements that I was in charge of some organized criminal group, etc. be stopped," Onyschenko told journalists in Kyiv on Tuesday before being questioned by NABU agents.
Onyschenko said his colleagues have been pressured and coerced into making confessions implicating him. "It's as if we are back in 1937, when they arrested dozens, threw them into jail and beat confessions out them. My lawyer has been arrested, the lawyer who is supposed to defend me, and my 72-year old mother has also been put under suspicion," the MP said.
Asked whether parliament could muster the simple majority of votes (226) to strip him of immunity from prosecution, Onyschenko replied: "Judging by the materials I have seen, there is no evidence of my wrongdoing. Therefore, I don't think the Verkhovna Rada will support this nonsense."
On Wednesday June 15 the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) sent materials for review on bringing criminal charges against and arresting Onyschenko. Kholodnytsky said then that the materials were prepared from evidence obtained during a criminal investigation into alleged wrongdoing in the sale of natural gas by public joint-stock company Ukrgazvydobuvannia.
Newly appointed PGO head Yuriy Lutsenko on Thursday wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday that the materials would be delivered to parliament on Thursday afternoon.
NABU said that Onyschenko had left Ukraine, but said it had information that he returned to Kyiv.
Onyschenko has said there is another PR campaign being waged against him in order to take away his business and has promised to convince Ukrainian MPs not to support the PGO request to strip him of his immunity from prosecution and arrest.
