Ukrainian lawmaker sentenced to 9 years in prison in 2020 bribery case
A Ukrainian court has sentenced lawmaker Oleksandr Yurchenko to nine years in prison in a bribery case dating back to 2020, when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the then-member of his parliamentary faction “will definitely go to prison.”
The court found Yurchenko guilty of accepting an offer, promise or receipt of an illicit benefit by a public official, hromadske's correspondent reported from the courtroom.
In addition to the nine-year prison sentence, the court ordered the confiscation of Yurchenko's property and barred him from holding state or local government positions for three years.
Yurchenko was also convicted of abuse of influence and sentenced to four years on that charge, but was released from punishment because the statute of limitations had expired.
The case dates back to 2020, when Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau uncovered an alleged bribery scheme involving Yurchenko's aide.
Investigators said Yurchenko sought $13,000 in exchange for submitting proposals to draft legislation and later sought another $200,000 that was intended to bribe other lawmakers and members of a parliamentary committee.
Then-Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova initially declined to authorize a notice of suspicion against Yurchenko, saying there were insufficient grounds, but later signed it.
Yurchenko subsequently left Zelenskyy's Servant of the People parliamentary faction.
Reacting to the case at the time, Zelenskyy said every official, minister and lawmaker should remember a simple rule: “If you steal, you go to prison. If you take a bribe, you go to prison.”
Speaking specifically about Yurchenko after prosecutors formally notified him of suspicion, Zelenskyy added: “He will definitely go to prison.”