A scandal has erupted in the highest echelons of the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office – the prosecutor of the Department of International Cooperation of the Office of the Prosecutor General , Oleksandr Liulchuk, was found to have Russian Federation citizenship. As a result, the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors (QDCP) recommended that the Prosecutor General dismiss Liulchuk from his position. This is stated in the material of the Judicial and Legal Newspaper, reports Komersant ukrainskyi
Liulchuk, who worked in the extradition department, has many years of experience in the prosecutor’s office. He began his career in 2009 at the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and after the annexation of the peninsula, he continued to work in the Kyiv region and the central office. In 2019, he successfully passed his certification and was granted access to state secrets.
The reason for the recommendation for dismissal was the information that Liulchuk had allegedly obtained Russian citizenship on 26 November 2014. This information came from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to the PGO’s General Inspectorate.
Interestingly, the SBU first reported this to the PGO back in March 2020, which led to an internal investigation that apparently did not result in anything. However, the case took a new turn in June 2024, when the SBU sent a similar notice again.
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In support of its allegations, the SBU provided a number of documents, including screenshots of the validity check of the Russian passport in Lyulchuk’s name, information on his Russian taxpayer identification number and extracts from Russian tax registers.
Mr Lyulchuk categorically denies that he has Russian citizenship. He claims that he was the victim of a provocation by the SBU because he had previously refused to become their confidential agent.
Despite Lyulchuk’s denials, the CCPC concluded that the fact of his acquisition of Russian citizenship “was more likely to have taken place than not”. The Commission applied Article 51(6) of the Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office”, which provides for the dismissal of a prosecutor in case of acquisition of citizenship of another state.
on 21 August 2024, the HQCJ officially sent a submission to the Prosecutor General to dismiss Oleksandr Liulchuk from his position. The final decision now rests with the Prosecutor General.