A Ukrainian court has concluded criminal proceedings against former Ukrainian Member of Parliament Oleksandr Hranovskyi, who had been accused of embezzling £1.6 million from the state-owned Odesa Portside Plant in 2015, the Cyprus Democratic Lawyers Association (CDLA) said in a statement.
The court exempted Hranovskyi from criminal liability after finding that the statutory time limit for prosecuting the case had expired.
According to the case file cited in the CDLA’s statement, Ukrainian authorities had alleged that Hranovskyi and his associates used an intermediary company to carry out the embezzlement. Hranovskyi denied the allegations from the outset, maintaining that the evidence against him had been fabricated and asserting his innocence, the statement said.
The CDLA said the case had drawn attention from the Cypriot and wider European legal community, describing it as a notable example of what it called the potential risks arising from the misuse of international criminal cooperation mechanisms in the context of transnational repression. The CDLA said the issue has also been the subject of attention from the Council of Europe, which it said has highlighted risks associated with the use of extradition requests and judicial cooperation for political purposes. The CDLA has previously stated its own involvement in Hranovskyi’s case in this context, having publicly raised concerns over separate extradition proceedings against him in the United Kingdom.
During the proceedings, the CDLA said, prosecutors reclassified the charges against Hranovskyi to a lesser offence under Ukrainian law.
The Ukrainian court found that the applicable time limit had expired and, under a provision of Ukrainian law exempting defendants once that period lapses, cleared Hranovskyi of criminal liability, bringing the domestic proceedings to a final conclusion, according to the CDLA.
The CDLA said in its statement: “Respect for the rule of law, judicial independence, and the guarantees of a fair trial constitutes a fundamental prerequisite for any process of international criminal cooperation.” It added that cases raising serious concerns about judicial independence and the fair administration of justice must be examined with the utmost care and in accordance with the standards of the European Convention on Human Rights.