Ukraine's Ex-Justice Minister Lukash Arrested On Corruption Charges
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- A Ukrainian court on November 6 ordered the arrest of former Justice Minister Olena Lukash on corruption charges, a day after she was detained in connection with an investigation into deadly Maidan shootings of February 2014.
The charges against Lukash include misappropriation of state funds worth about $2.5 million, as well as forgery and abuse of her office.
The November 6 arrest order by Kyiv's Pechersky District Court granted her the possibility of paying bail of 5.1 million hryvni ($221,000) within the next five days.
Prosecutor Vladislav Kutsenko says Lukash was not being charged in connection with the Maidan shootings during opposition protests in 2014 that brought down the pro-Russian government of then-President Viktor Yanukovych.
However, Kutsenko said Lukash was being questioned as a witness in that case.
More than 100 people were killed on and around Kyiv’s central Independence Square -- known as Maidan Square -- by sniper fire from February 18-20, 2014.
An ongoing Ukrainian investigation has not yet identified who was behind the attacks.
Lukash served as Ukraine's justice minister in 2013 and early 2014.
She was dismissed on February 27, 2014, days after Yanukovych was toppled from power and fled to Russia.
In February 2015, Ukraine's prosecutor-general requested that the Interior Ministry and Ukrainian Security Services arrest Lukash on suspicion of involvement in masterminding the shootings of antigovernment protesters.
In May, the Prosecutor-General's Office filed charges in absentia against Lukash for the alleged mismanagement of public funds, forgery, and abuse of office.
Lukash said on November 6 that she was certain her friends would deposit her bail and that the court would ultimately acquit her of the corruption charges.
She also said she considered the court order for her arrest to be unfounded.
With reporting by AP, Interfax, and UNIAN
Ukrainian Parliamentarian Accused Of Striking Female Lawmaker With Bottle
Fighting in Ukraine's parliament is all fun and games until a female lawmaker gets hit in the eye with a glass bottle.
The Fatherland party is boycotting parliament and a cross-party grouping of women in the Verkhovna Rada is demanding that a male lawmaker leave office after Fatherland deputy Oleksandra Kuzhel was struck with a bottle during an argument.
The 62-year-old Kuzhel suffered a black eye and a concussion as a result of the November 5 incident, which took place during an argument with People's Front party deputy head Andriy Teteruk after the day's session had ended.
The clash outside the office of speaker Volodymyr Groysman was the second physical altercation between Kuzhel and Teteruk this week.
"According to a witness -- lawmaker … Serhiy Vlasenko -- Teteruk made insulting remarks about Fatherland lawmakers and personally offended Kuzhel and hit her on the head with a glass bottle," Fatherland's press office said on November 6.
Read more of the story by RFE/RL's Farangis Najibullah here.
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Friday, November 6. Check back here tomorrow morning for more of our continuing coverage.
Here's short summary from our nerws desk of the peace talks in Berlin last night:
Foreign Ministers from Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France agreed to try to complete a withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the front lines in eastern Ukraine, Germany's foreign minister said on November 6.
"We've agreed...to tackle the pullback of heavy weaponry now," Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after a round of peace talks in Berlin, noting that violence in the region has declined recently and a withdrawal of light weaponry has nearly been completed.
On the issue of mines, which have claimed scores of victims in the fighting zone, Steinmeier said the end of November is the target date for their removal.
Steinmeier said Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists also need to work through the political issues of who can run for office in planned local elections in separatist-held territory in the east, and who should monitor the voting.
Ukraine's Foreign Miniser Pavlo Klimkin proposed that the elections be set up and monitored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is currently monitoring the cease-fire in eastern Ukraine.
(Reuters, Interfax, AFP)