‘Kiev is afraid to hear truth’ – ex-Crimean prosecutor ready to testify against Ukrainian offiсials
Russian MP and former chief prosecutor of Crimea, Natalya Poklonskaya, has said she is ready to testify in court on the events of 2013-2014 in Ukraine, which she called “the assassination” of the country by its current leaders.
Poklonskaya was commenting in Moscow on the ruling of a Kiev court that allowed Ukrainian prosecutors to continue her trial in absentia.
“In other words, they want to try me without my presence,” she told reporters at a press conference. “The investigation into my case is being conducted in upmost secrecy and silence because it is not in the interests of Ukrainian authorities and prosecutors.”
“Still, I want to testify and I want to participate in the questioning of those high-placed Ukrainian officials who are complicit in the tragic events of 2013 and 2014.” Poklonskaya then mentioned a list of officials she deemed guilty, including current Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, former Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk, and Mayor of Kiev Vitaly Klitschko.
“Due to the fact that back then I was an acting chief prosecutor in the Main Process Directorate of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, I know a lot about this coup, about the assassination of Ukraine by the current leaders of this destroyed country,” she added.
“The real objective of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office is the concealment of their own failures and crimes of Ukrainian leaders. They fear the disclosure of crimes committed by these leaders who are being hated and despised by every second Ukrainian citizen,” Poklonskaya concluded.
Poklonskaya became Crimea’s chief prosecutor at age 33, shortly after the republic seceded from Ukraine and joined the Russian Federation in 2014. The newly installed regime in Kiev reacted by threatening her with arrest, and Ukrainian nationalists reportedly even plotted to assassinate her, but were thwarted by the Russian security services. In September 2016, Poklonskaya was elected as a Russian lower house MP on the ticket of the parliamentary majority party United Russia.
Poklonskaya’s appearance and communication skills made her an international celebrity after the very first press conference in her new role. She became an internet idol, especially in Japan, where her fans call her ‘Prosecutie’ and have launched a cult of devotees who called themselves ‘Nataliaites’.
However, Poklonskaya has expressed irritation over the media hype surrounding her name, and has asked reporters to treat her more seriously as “she was a lawyer, not a Pokémon or something of this kind.”
In 2016, Ukrainian prosecutors began a criminal case against Poklonskaya on charges of high treason. She reacted by calling the process politically charged and in August this year she told reporters that she had not received a single warrant from Ukrainian prosecutors concerning this case.
