Mykola Volodymyrovych Martynenko (; born 12 January 1961) is a Ukrainian politician who served as a

People's Deputy of Ukraine A people's deputy of Ukraine (, ) is a member of parliament and legislator elected by Direct election, popular vote to the Verkhovna Rada, the parliament of Ukraine. They are often referred to simply as "deputies". Prior to 1991, the Verkhovna R ...

from 1998 to 2015, as a member of the People's Front.Small biography on Mykola Martynenko

LIGA Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Ame ...

From 2009 until 2011 he headed the parliamentary faction of the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc. On 26 June 2020, a court in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

found Martynenko guilty of money laundering, and sentenced him to 28 months in prison.

Involvement in embezzlement in Ukraine, Switzerland and Czech Republic

In December 2015 Martynenko resigned from the

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...

(Ukraine's parliament) amid a corruption scandal. He became the first People's Deputy in the history of Ukraine who voluntarily refused the parliamentary mandate to show that he was not afraid of investigations against himself. Martynenko is suspected of organizing large-scale embezzlement by Ukrainian, Swiss and Czech authorities. On 8 October 2015 Martynenko said that the case against him was instituted without any grounds on the order of the pro-Russian energy lobby and oligarchs as while he headed the parliamentary committee on fuel and energy he defended the diversification of supplies of Russian gas and nuclear fuel, and the progressive law on the gas market adopted with the assistance of M.Martynenko did not allow billions of illegal super profits to be earned by the oligarchs On 17 January 2017 the court ordered

NABU Nabu (, ) is the Babylonian patron god of literacy, scribes, wisdom, and the rational arts. He is associated with the classical planet Mercury in Babylonian astronomy. Etymology and meaning The Akkadian means 'announcer' or 'authorised pe ...

to close the so-called "Martynenko case" within 10 days but in the opinion of the former MP NABU took an unprecedented step - decided to illegally appeal against the court's decision which is based on the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, so it is final and can not be appealed. On 30 March 2017 Martynenko appealed to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Verkhovna Rada, the President and ambassadors of the G-7 and the European Union in Ukraine on "political persecution, gross violations of the law and presumption of innocence". Martynenko reminded that in 2015 he voluntarily retired as the people's deputy of Ukraine and refused the parliamentary immunity. "During 15 months, the detectives of NABU found out: there is no evidence of my illegal activities. However, Artem Sytnyk and Gizo Uglava do not leave their intentions to falsify the charges against me. Unfortunately, the leaders of NABU are guided not by law but by political motives, aspirations for their own PR and personal revenge." On 19 December 2019 the case in Switzerland, in which Martynenko appears, was transferred to a Swiss court. Martynenko's defense said this had happened under pressure and at the insistence of lawyers, publishing a copy of the appeal to the Federal Criminal Court of the Swiss Confederation. Martynenko's press service explained the procrastination of the Swiss prosecutor by the fact that there was no evidence in the case, so Köli "wanted to transfer the burden of proof in court to the Ukrainian SAP, NABU and the Ukrainian court." On 26 June 2020 a Swiss court of first instance sentenced him to 12 months in prison and up to 16 months probation Martynenko's Swiss lawyer Reza Vafadar stated that "in Switzerland a person is considered innocent and not convicted until all stages of the Swiss legal system have been passed - the appeal and the federal Supreme Court.

On 8 December 2020 a Swiss State Police officer was fined for

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

but not for

abuse of power Abuse of power or abuse of authority, in the form of "malfeasance in office" or "official abuse of power", is the commission of an Crime, unlawful act, done in an official capacity, which affects the performance of official duties. Malfeasan ...

, by a

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

court, for receiving money from a former

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

agent to investigate the Swiss Federal Court proceedings against Martynenko. The former Ukrainian politician was convicted of

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

six month earlier, and sentenced to a lengthy prison sentence in Switzerland. On 28 June 2024 The Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Federal Criminal Court acquits the former Ukrainian parliamentarian Martynenko and a co-accused of charges of serious money laundering in the second instance.

References

External links

Сайт Верховної Ради України
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martynenko, Mykola 1961 births Living people Third convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Fourth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Fifth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Sixth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Seventh convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Eighth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Our Ukraine (political party) politicians People's Front (Ukraine) politicians People from Svitlovodsk People of the Orange Revolution Ukrainian politicians convicted of crimes Ukrainian prisoners and detainees Corruption in Ukraine Prisoners and detainees of Switzerland