Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declares ongoing pressure
on the part of the State Bureau of Investigation
Today, 30 October, information on the official website of the State Bureau of Investigation appeared under a grabbing headline: “The state treason and illegal alienation of a land plot on the territory of Crimea under Russian laws – SBI investigates criminal proceedings with regard to the Chairman of the Constitutional Court”, in which acting SBI Director Oleksii Sukhachov, in fact, had accused the Chairman of the Constitutional Court in committing an act damaging the sovereignty, territorial integrity, state and economic security of Ukraine, which are qualified under Article 197.1.2 and 111.1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Following critical ridicule of such formulations by mass mediaб the text was supplemented by a word “possibly” committed such acts.
Given this, we inform the leadership of the State Bureau of Investigation that pursuant to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine “A person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and shall not be subjected to criminal punishment until his or her guilt is proved through legal procedure and established by a court verdict of guilty. No one is obliged to prove his or her innocence of committing a crime. An accusation shall not be based on illegally obtained evidence as well as on assumptions…”
We express hope that hereinafter the SBI officials will be guided in their activities exclusively by the rules of the Constitution of Ukraine and current legislation.
