Medvedchuk's accomplice who worked for his TV channels notified of suspicion – SBU
An accomplice of former Ukrainian Member of Parliament Viktor Medvedchuk, Maksym Holdarb, who had worked for his television channels and headed a banned pro-Russian party, was notified of suspicion of being involved in collaborationism and glorification of occupiers, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has said.
"The Security Service collected the evidence base on illegal activities of collaborator Maksym Holdarb, who is a former presenter of Medvedchuk's television channel and the leader of the Union of Left Forces, a political party that is banned in Ukraine," it said on the Telegram channel on Thursday.
According to the SBU, at the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, Holdarb fled from Kyiv and supported Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine in public.
"The defendant posted pro-Kremlin statements on his own Telegram and YouTube channels with a total number of subscribers of more than 140,000 users. In these materials, Holdarb distributed fake information about activities of the top military and political leadership of Ukraine and disinformed [his auditory] about the interior situation in our country," it said.
In addition, according to the SBU, the suspect published fictitious "insides" about the alleged "plans" of several European countries to "annex" the territory in the west of Ukraine. Also, Holdarb numerous times participated in TV linkups with Russian propagandists who created staged stories for the television in the temporarily occupied Crimea and the aggressor country's talk shows.
An expertise conducted at the initiative of the SBU has confirmed that the defendant committed criminal actions.
Holdarb was notified of suspicion under Part 6 of Article 111-1 (collaborationism), Parts 2, 3 of Article 436-2 (justification, recognition as legal, denial of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine, glorification of its participants). Since the defendant is hiding from justice, a complex of measures continues to be implemented to find his location and bring his to justice for the crimes against Ukraine.
The SBU conducted the investigation under the procedural guidance of Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office.
