Yurii Karmazin (Ukrainian: Юрій Анатолійович Кармазін; 21 September 1957 – 9 November 2022) was a Ukrainian politician and judge.[1] Karmazin served four terms as a People's Deputy of Ukraine.[1]
Biography
Born on 21 September 1957, in Zvenyhorodka, Cherkasy region of Ukrainian SSR. Graduated from Odesa University. In 1982 was appointed prosecutor assistant of Odesa region. From 1985 until 1992 Karmazin worked as a prosecutor of the Prymorskyi district of Odesa.[2] In 1993 he was elected a judge of the Odesa Regional Court, which he stayed for one year.[2]
On 22 May 1999, he was elected as the head of the Motherland Defenders Party. On 31 October of that same year, he participated in the first round of presidential elections. There he was ranked 10th out of 13, gaining 90,793 votes (0.35%).
In 2005, Karmazin said in an interview to the Boulevard newspaper that he was against Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and that he won't live in one country with him. In the same interview, he told how a certain superior force came down on him, giving him instructions for his future activities.[4][5]
Karmazin did not participate in elections to the Ukrainian parliament in 2012, as he was refused to be registered.[2][6] In the 2013 by-election in district No. 94 in Kyiv Oblast he did take part as an independent candidate, but he failed to win.[2]
Karmazin did participate in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election as he headed the list of the party Green Planet.[2] This party gained 0,23% of the vote and no seats.[7]
In November 2015 he joined the leadership of the "Far-right forces[8]" movement, the organizer of an anti-government protest in February 2016, whose headquarters were located in "Kazatsky" hotel.[9] The campaigners demanded the resignation of the government of President Petro Poroshenko and the release of political prisoners,[10] they themselves were accused of destructive and provocative actions, beneficial to Russian media and the Russian authorities.[11][12][13] By the end of the month, the protests stopped.[14]
In January 2018, Karmazin held a press conference providing documents allegedly confirming the relationship between the ICU company and the American financier, deputy chairman of the inaugural committee of Donald Trump, Elliott Broidy. The company ICU denied this information and put the law on Karmazin for libel.[15]