Yevgeny Shevchuk

Yevgeny Vasilyevich Shevchuk (Russian: Евге́ний Васи́льевич Шевчу́к, tr. Yevgeniy Vasilyevich Shevchuk, Ukrainian: Євге́н Васи́льович Шевчу́к, tr. Yevhen Vasylovych Shevchuk, Moldovan Cyrillic: Евгений Васильевичи Шевчук, Romanian: Evgheni Vasilievici Șevciuk; born 19 June 1968) was the 2nd President of the internationally unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, better known as Transnistria. He was a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of Transnistria from 2000 until his election as president in 2011. Furthermore, he was speaker of Pridnestrovian Supreme Soviet from 2005 to 2009, and the leader of the political party Obnovlenie until 2010. Shevchuk is an ethnic Ukrainian and a citizen of both Transnistria and Russia.[1]

Yevgeny Shevchuk
2nd President of Transnistria
In office
30 December 2011  16 December 2016
Prime MinisterPyotr Stepanov
Tatiana Turanskaya
Maija Parnas (Acting)
Tatiana Turanskaya
Maija Parnas (Acting)
Pavel Prokudin
Preceded byIgor Smirnov
Succeeded byVadim Krasnoselsky
Speaker of the Supreme Council
In office
28 December 2005  8 July 2009
PresidentIgor Smirnov
Preceded byGrigore Mărăcuță
Succeeded byAnatoliy Kaminski
Personal details
Born
Yevgeny Vasylovych Shevchuk

(1968-06-19) 19 June 1968
Rybnitsa, Soviet Union
(now Rîbnița, Moldova)
Political partyIndependent
Spouse(s)Nina Shtanski
Alma materTransnistria State University
All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade
Ukrainian Agricultural Academy

Early life

Yevgeny was born in Rybnitsa, Moldavian SSR, Soviet Union (now Rîbnița, Transnistria, Moldova). He is a lawyer who has worked in government and private business. His biography profile describes him as "social democratic technocrat with a European outlook, and a man of profound democratic beliefs".

Politics

As part of the minority opposition in parliament prior to December 2005, he spearheaded a reform drive by his party to introduce changes to Transnistria's electoral code. Among the changes were a requirement that purely technical qualifications be used as the basis for selecting polling station chairmen and a rule prohibiting state-owned media outlets (radio, TV, newspapers, etc.) from publishing results of polls and forecasts related to elections, so as to not influence free voter choice. This was reported in the United States State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005.[2]

In a 2005 report the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe referred to Shevchuk in the context of democratic reform, noting that Transnistria "is moving towards more pluralism" and highlighted "the Transnistrian parliament's own initiatives on the reform of the political system" which were spearheaded by Shevchuk's bloc. After that the European Parliament banned Shevchuk from entry to the EU countries.[3]

On 22 July 2009, Shevchuk resigned from his post as speaker of parliament.[4] Anatoliy Kaminski, who was vice-speaker under Shevchuk and is vice chairman of Shevchuk's Obnovlenie party, was the only nominee to succeed him. Mikhail Burla, leader of Obnovlenie and Chairman of the Committee for economic policy, budget and finance, was elected as the new vice-speaker. Shevchuk cited a controversial attempt to revise the county's constitution by president Igor Smirnov as the main reason for his resignation.[5]

Presidency

In December 2011, Shevchuk was elected president of Transnistria. He won the first round of the presidential elections on 11 December, polling higher than either the sitting president Igor Smirnov or the Kremlin-backed Supreme Soviet chairman Anatoliy Kaminski.[6] He then won the second round of voting with over 75% support on 25 December.[7] He was inaugurated on 30 December 2011.[8] He was defeated for re-election in 2016

Post-presidency

On 28 June 2017, the parliament of Transnistria voted to remove Shevchuk's immunity from prosecution in connection with five[9] pending criminal cases against the former President. Prior to this, on the evening of 27 June, Shevchuk crossed the border into Moldova.[10] Shevchuk claimed that he crossed from PMR to Moldova in a taxi,[11] whilst Russian-language media[12] and certain PMR officials[13] reported that he sailed across the Dnestr in a boat. On 30 June, Moldovan officials stated that they would not hand Shevchuk over to Transnistria.[14]

Transnistria issued an arrest warrant for Shevchuk at the end of November 2017.[15]

Later criminal cases count was raised up to six. Shevchuk is accused of corruption, smuggling, abuse of power, misappropriation of state money in especially large amounts, as well as unreasonable delay in the payment of pensions and salaries.

In total, Shevchuk faces up to 12 years in prison.[16]

References

  1. http://lenta.ru/lib/14164168/
  2. "2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Moldova". U.S. Department of State. 8 March 2006. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  3. Official Journal of the European Union: COUNCIL COMMON POSITION 2005/147/CFSP of 21 February 2005
  4. Supreme Council - parliamentary news MPs vote on a resolution accepting the resignation of Parliamentary Speaker Yevgeny Shevchuk. (22 July 2009)
  5. Yevgeny Shevchuk, "I call on you all to unite to protect our future, where there is the rule of law, the strong people are just, the weak people are protected, and everyone works and maintains stability”.
  6. Запасной аэродром Игоря Смирнова: Предварительные результаты выборов президента могут признать недействительными, Независимая газета, 15 December 2011. http://www.ng.ru/cis/2011-12-15/1_smirnov.html
  7. Выборы президента ПМР: 100% бюллетеней: за независимость - 76,4%, за "кандидата Кремля" - 20,2%, ИА REGNUM, 25 December 2011, http://www.regnum.ru/news/fd-abroad/moldova/1483475.html
  8. Кремль дважды проиграл Приднестровье, Независимая газета, 27 December 2011, http://www.ng.ru/cis/2011-12-27/1_pridnestrovie.html
  9. "The ex-Transnistrian leader, Evgheni Shevchuk, charged in 5 criminal cases". Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  10. Экс-президент Приднестровья Шевчук тайно покинул республику. РИА Новости (in Russian). 28 June 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  11. "Из Приднестровья сбежал бывший президент непризнанной республики. Что случилось? — Meduza". Meduza (in Russian). Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  12. "Экс-президент Приднестровья сбежал на лодке в Молдавию". РБК. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  13. "Andrey Safonov". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  14. Молдавия не выдаст Приднестровью экс-президента Шевчука. ТАСС (in Russian). Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  15. В Приднестровье объявили в розыск экс-президента
  16. Court trial on "the case of Shevchuk" to be hold in Transnistria
Political offices
Preceded by
Grigore Mărăcuţă
Speaker of the Supreme Council
2005–2009
Succeeded by
Anatoliy Kaminski
Preceded by
Igor Smirnov
President of Transnistria
2011–2016
Succeeded by
Vadim Krasnoselsky
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