Svyatoslav Piskun

Svyatoslav Piskun Святослав Піскун
Piskun in December 2004
Prosecutor General of Ukraine
In office April 26, 2007 – May 24, 2007
President	Viktor Yushchenko
Preceded by	Oleksandr Medvedko
Succeeded by	Oleksandr Medvedko (since June 1, 2007)
In office December 10, 2004 – October 14, 2005
President	Viktor Yushchenko
Preceded by	Hennadiy Vasylyev
Succeeded by	Oleksandr Medvedko
In office July 06, 2002 – October 29, 2003
President	Leonid Kuchma
Preceded by	Mykhailo Potebenko
Succeeded by	Hennadiy Vasylyev
Personal details
Born	(1959-03-08) March 8, 1959 Berdychiv, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Political party	Independent
Other political affiliations	Party of Regions (2006-2007)
Spouse(s)	Svitlana Sevast'yanivna (1962)
Children	Tetyana (1983), Svyatoslav (2000)
Residence	Kiev, Ukraine
Alma mater	Lviv University
Religion	Judaism

Svyatoslav Mykhaylovych Piskun (Ukrainian: Святослав Михайлович Піскун, born March 8, 1959) was the 3 times Prosecutor General of Ukraine in 2002-2003, 2005 and 2007 till President Viktor Yushchenko's dismissed Piskun on May 24, 2007.^[1] He is an important participant of several scandals, including the cases of Georgiy R. Gongadze murder and United Energy Systems of Ukraine of Yulia Tymoshenko.

Career

On March, 2006 he was elected as a people's deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from Party of Regions list as №96 - but he was not a party member.^[2] Piskun was elected in parliament for Party of Regions again in 2007.^[3] He became a full member of Party of Regions in October 2008.^[3] Piskun did not return to parliament after the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election after losing in single-member districts number 63 (first-past-the-post wins a parliament seat) located in Zhytomyr Oblast.^[4] In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Khoroshkovskyi tried to return to national politics this time from the party of Strong Ukraine (placing 16th on the parties election list).^[5][6] But in the election the party failed to clear the 5% election threshold (it got 3.11% of the votes) and thus Piskun was not elected into parliament.^[7] Piskun was only allowed to take part in the election after a court decision validated his entrance in the election, at first the Central Election Commission of Ukraine had refused to register him because in the last 5 years leading up to the election he had not lived in Ukraine.^[8]

Scandals and dismissals

Piskun is the only statesman in Ukraine whose sacking by two different Presidents has been subsequently dismissed each time by the courts.^[9] The latest being an April 24, 2009 Kyiv Court of Appeals passing of a ruling saying President Yushchenko's decree dated May 24, 2007, dismissing Sviatoslav Piskun from the post of the prosecutor general was unlawful,^[1][10] but Piskun did not submit any application for his reinstating on the post of Prosecutor General.^[10]

After his sacking by President Yushchenko in October 2005 Piskun claimed his dismissal came because he refused to institute criminal proceedings against Tymoshenko, and refused to drop proceedings against Petro Poroshenko.^[11]

On 31 May 2012, Piskun was accused of closing criminal case which was related to the United Energy Systems of Ukraine company, which he was told to close while serving under Viktor Yushchenko's government in 2005.^[12] During the same year he also was accused by Viktor Pshonka of closing all criminal cases regarding back-then Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.^[13]

In March 2013, after not showing up in public for almost half a year, he sold his 1,2 million dollar house in Bukovel and as of summer of 2012 have sold another one in Irpin.^[14]

While being in Crimea in 2013 he spoke to Express on the phone about his emigration, and was quoted saying:

To be honest, I do not like what is happening with the laws and justice in Ukraine... but I can not emigrate, I have nowhere to go.

^[15]

Crimean crisis

On 30 March 2014 during the interview with Inter channel he said that he believes that the former officials, who are being wanted in Ukraine, are living in Russia.^[16]

During the Crimean crisis he said to the UNIAN:

Therefore, it is necessary to initiate criminal cases and bring them to the charge, perhaps even in absentia. In addition, you must declare the officers and sailors of BSF into international wanted list through Interpol as people who have been charged with criminal offenses committed on the territory of Ukraine. Prosecutors must inform people that the law will apply to all those who surrender weapons, before March 15. Those who after this date will still have weapons will be held criminally liable.

^[17]

He also said that he believes that the situation in Crimea should be controlled only by the Crimean attorney generals and was quoted saying next:

How can there be a holiday or a beach vacation when the situation in Crimea on the brink of armed conflict? I would suggest acting General Prosecutor of Ukraine Oleh Makhnitskyi to appoint his first deputy as the Acting Attorney of Crimea. And it can be done without regard to the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, the Crimean parliament requires only to be candidate for the position of Prosecutor of the Republic, but acting is not required. It is legitimate and legal framework. However, it must be deployed with illegitimate authorities of the Crimea or in the next office or on the district prosecutor's office in Simferopol, or in any other place... But the prosecutor's office official autonomy required to be and not to be present in Kiev, and directly in Crimea.

^[18]

References

External links

• CLAN of Yanukovich: PISKUN (Russian)
• Interview with Svyatoslav Piskun on Image.ua