Svyatoslav Piskun

Svyatoslav Piskun
Святослав Піскун
Piskun in 2004
Prosecutor General of Ukraine
In office
26 April 2007 – 24 May 2007
PresidentViktor Yushchenko
Preceded byOleksandr Medvedko
Succeeded byViktor Shemchuk (acting)
In office
10 December 2004 – 14 October 2005
PresidentViktor Yushchenko
Preceded byHennadiy Vasylyev
Succeeded byOleksandr Medvedko
In office
6 July 2002 – 29 October 2003
PresidentLeonid Kuchma
Preceded byMykhailo Potebenko
Succeeded byHennadiy Vasylyev
Personal details
Born (1959-03-08) 8 March 1959 (age 65)
Soviet Union Berdychiv, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations		Party of Regions (2006–2007)
SpouseSvitlana Sevast'yanivna (1962)
ChildrenTetyana (1983), Svyatoslav (2000)
Residence(s)Ukraine Kyiv, Ukraine
Alma materLviv University

Svyatoslav Mykhaylovych Piskun (Ukrainian: Святослав Михайлович Піскун, born 1 March 1959) was 3 times Prosecutor General of Ukraine.[1] He served in this role in 2002–2003, 2005 and 2007 until President Viktor Yushchenko's dismissed Piskun on 24 May 2007.[2] He worked as a prosecutor in several important cases, including murder of Georgiy Gongadze and investigation of United Energy Systems of Ukraine.

Political career

In March 2006 he was elected as a people's deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from Party of Regions list as No.96 – but he was not a party member.[3] Piskun was elected in parliament for Party of Regions again in 2007.[4] He became a full member of Party of Regions in October 2008.[4] Piskun did not return to parliament after the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election after losing in single-member districts number 63 (first-past-the-post wins a parliament seat) located in Zhytomyr Oblast.[5] In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Khoroshkovskyi tried to return to national politics this time from the party of Strong Ukraine (placing 16th on the parties election list).[6][7] But in the election the party failed to clear the 5% election threshold (it got 3.11% of the votes) and thus Piskun was not elected into parliament.[8] Piskun was only allowed to take part in the election after a court decision validated his entrance in the election, at first the Central Election Commission of Ukraine had refused to register him because in the last 5 years leading up to the election he had not lived in Ukraine.[9]

Dismissals as Prosecutor General of Ukraine

According to Piskun, his dismissal by President Yushchenko in October 2005 came because he stopped criminal proceedings against Yulia Tymoshenko and refused to drop proceedings against Petro Poroshenko.[10] He was criticized for closing the criminal case related to the United Energy Systems of Ukraine while serving under Viktor Yushchenko's government in 2005.[11] and dropping criminal cases regarding back-then Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.[12]

Piskun is the only Prosecutor General of Ukraine in Ukraine whose dismissals by two Presidents have been overturned as unlawful by courts.[13] The latest being a 24 April 2009 Kyiv Court of Appeals passing of a ruling saying President Yushchenko's decree dated 24 May 2007, dismissing Sviatoslav Piskun from the post of the prosecutor general was unlawful,[2][14] but Piskun did not submit any application for his reinstating on the post of Prosecutor General.[14]

Career since 2014

On 30 March 2014 during an interview with Inter TV channel he called for the criminal prosecution of Ukrainian officials who are responsible for allowing the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea.[15][16]

On 30 July 2020 Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova appointed Piskun as her personal adviser on a voluntary basis.[17] On 25 August 2020 Venediktova (without communicating the reason) realised him as her personal adviser.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b (in Ukrainian) Venediktova released Piskun, Ukrayinska Pravda (25 August 2020)
  2. ^ a b "Court Finds Illegal Dismissal Of Piskun from Post of Prosecutor General in May 2007". Kyiv Post. Ukrainian News Agency. April 24, 2009. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008.
  3. ^ "Information about people deputy Svyatoslav Piskun". Official website of Verkhovna Rada (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2007.
  4. ^ a b Пискун и Кинах решили заткнуть собой брешь в рядах ПР, пробитую Чорновилом и Богатыревой [Piskun and Kinakh decided to plug a gap in the ranks of PR, and punched Chornovil and Bogatyryova] (in Russian). Обком. October 10, 2008. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  5. ^ Підсумки виборів-2012: Депутати, яким доведеться скласти повноваження Підсумки виборів-2012: Депутати, яким доведеться скласти повноваження Підсумки виборів-2012: Депутати, яким доведеться скласти повноваження [Results of the 2012 elections: MPs who will resign] (in Ukrainian). RBC Ukraine. October 30, 2012. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved December 29, 2012.
  6. ^ "Ukraine Votes On Oct. 26 To Elect New Parliament". Kyiv Post. October 24, 2014. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  7. ^ "Election list of Strong Ukraine". Ukrayinska Pravda (in Ukrainian). September 9, 2014. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  8. ^ "Poroshenko Bloc to have greatest number of seats in parliament". Ukrainian Television and Radio. November 8, 2014. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
    "People's Front 0.33% ahead of Poroshenko Bloc with all ballots counted in Ukraine elections – CEC". Interfax-Ukraine. November 8, 2014. Archived from the original on November 12, 2014. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
    "Poroshenko Bloc to get 132 seats in parliament – CEC". Interfax-Ukraine. November 8, 2014. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  9. ^ ВАСУ заставил ЦИК зарегистрировать Пискуна [SACU forced CEC to register Piskun]. Ukrayinska Pravda (in Ukrainian). October 3, 2014. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
  10. ^ "Independent standpoint on Ukraine:Dismissal of Prosecutor-General, Closure of Poroshenko Case Create New". ForUm. October 28, 2005. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
  11. ^ Пшонка из-за Тимошенко может открыть дело на Пискуна [Because of Tymoshenko, Pshonka can open a case on Piskun] (in Russian). May 31, 2012. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
  12. ^ Бывший руководитель Генпрокуратуры открестился от обвинений в том, будто на решение повлиял экс-президент Виктор Ющенко (in Russian). TSN. April 23, 2012. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
  13. ^ Laws of Ukraine. Presidential Decree No. 357/2007: Question of S. Piskun. Adopted on April 26, 2007. (Ukrainian)
  14. ^ a b "Piskun says he won't return on post of Prosecutor General so far". UNIAN. April 24, 2009. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
  15. ^ "Экс-генпрокурор Святослав Пискун рассказал, где скрывается окружение Януковича" [Former Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun told where Yanukovych's government officials are hiding]. Lenta.ua. March 31, 2014. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
  16. ^ Пискун вважає, що прокуратура Криму має почати кримінальне провадження стосовно командування ЧФ РФ [Piskun said that Crimean prosecutors should start criminal proceedings regarding the Black Sea Fleet Command] (in Ukrainian). UNIAN. March 5, 2014. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
  17. ^ Venediktov took Piskun as an adviser, Ukrayinska Pravda (30 July 2020) (in Ukrainian)