Sacked prosecutor general who left Ukraine resigns from prosecution service

Former prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko has resigned from the prosecution service. His resignation was accepted, and Kravchenko was dismissed from the prosecution service on 21 September.

Source: Mariana Haiovska, spokeswoman for the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG), in a comment to journalists

Quote: "Today [21 September – ed.], Kravchenko submitted his resignation from the prosecution service.

After being dismissed as prosecutor general, he retained the status of a prosecutor at the Office of the Prosecutor General in accordance with the Law of Ukraine 'On the Prosecutor's Office'.

When his official trip ended, Ruslan Kravchenko did not resume his official duties as a prosecutor at the OPG.

Under the circumstances, the resignation he submitted provides legal grounds to dismiss him from the prosecution service as soon as possible."

Details: On Monday, the acting prosecutor general signed the relevant order dismissing Ruslan Kravchenko.

Sources told Ukrainska Pravda that as of 21 September, Kravchenko has not crossed the border back into Ukraine.

The OPG also noted that other forms of dismissal would have required a lengthy procedure at the Prosecutors' Qualification and Disciplinary Commission, and Kravchenko would formally have remained a prosecutor at the OPG during that time. The OPG therefore decided to act on his resignation.

Background:

• On 7 September, Kravchenko resigned as prosecutor general amid an investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) into the alleged "protection" of scam call centres.
• On 14 September, Kravchenko said he had signed a notice of suspicion against NABU director Semen Kryvonos and accused NABU and SAPO of seizing materials from criminal proceedings against employees of the anti-corruption agencies in the course of searches conducted as part of Operation Carthage.
• According to Ukrainska Pravda sources in law enforcement, Kravchenko left Ukraine in an official car on the night of 13-14 September. He said in a statement that he had left to go on an official trip. According to an order by the prosecutor general dated 13 September, a copy of which was seen by Ukrainska Pravda, Kravchenko left for Paris for five days "to take part in PACE hearings on Ukrainian children". However, he was not listed among the speakers on the event agenda.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged parliament to back Kravchenko's dismissal as prosecutor general.
• On 14 September, Zelenskyy signed a decree suspending Kravchenko as prosecutor general. The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) later voted in favour of his dismissal.
• As of 21 September, Kravchenko, whose official trip abroad ended on 18 September, had not returned to work.

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