Ukraine’s National Security Council kidnaps leader of UKROP party from courtroom

No sooner started, the trial of Ihor Kolomoisky’s “second hand,” the leader of the UKROP party Hennadiy Korban ended in a scandal – a special task force of the National Security Council led him out of the courtroom and took him away to an undisclosed location.

Korban was brought to court from hospital, but the very first thing the judge did was announce a recess – the point is that no measure of restraint had been chosen for Korban even though he had been in custody for three days already and so he had to be set free. His comrades tried to break into the courtroom so as to take him away but in vain. According to MP Andriy Denysenko, Korban was convoyed away by a special task force.

“It was a cynical crime - something even worse than the crimes we could witness under Yanukovych. Korban was kidnapped right from the courtroom instead of being set free,” Denysenko said.

Korban’s lawyer Oksana Tomchuk will try to find him. “I don’t know where he was taken. It was a crime as he had to be released,” she said.

On Oct 31, the National Security Council and the Prosecutor General’s Office launch a special operation to investigate the activities of Hennadiy Korban. The former deputy governor of Dnipropetrovsk region is suspected of organizing a criminal group and kidnapping people. He is also believed to have misused 40 million UAH raised for volunteers fighting in the east of Ukraine. They in UKROP say that Korban’s detention was a political repression as his party won in many districts during the last local elections.