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Yevhen Shcherban

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Yevhen Shcherban
Євген Щербань
People's Deputy of Ukraine
In office
27 March 1994 – 3 November 1996
ConstituencyVolnovakha Raion
Personal details
Born
Yevhen Oleksandrovych Shcherban

(1946-01-18)18 January 1946
Kostiantynivka, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Died3 November 1996(1996-11-03) (aged 50)
Donetsk Airport, Ukraine
Manner of deathAssassination by gunshot
CitizenshipSoviet Union, Ukraine
NationalityUkrainian
Political partyLiberal Party of Ukraine
SpouseNadia Nikitina
Children3 sons
Alma materDonetsk National Technical University
Occupationbusinessman, politician

Yevhen Oleksandrovych Shcherban (Ukrainian: Євген Олександрович Щербань, 18 January 1946 – 3 November 1996) was a Ukrainian businessman and politician.[1] As a member of the Liberal Party of Ukraine, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada from the Volnovakha electoral district in Donetsk Oblast. He served as the People's Deputy of Ukraine from 1994 until his assassination in 1996.[2]

Biography

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Yevhen Oleksandrovych Shcherban was born in the village of Kostyantynivka, Krasnokutsk Raion on 18 January 1948. From 1972-77 he studied at the Mining Industrial College in Donetsk, and later at Donetsk National Technical University. Until 1988 he worked as a mining engineer. After the independence of Ukraine he established a cooperative organization "Progress" and later a corporation "ATON".

In the mid-1990s, Shcherban was among the richest people in Ukraine and a prominent and influential member of parliament for the Liberal Party of Ukraine.[1][3][4]

Death

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Shcherban and his wife Nadezhda (née Nikitina) were shot dead on a runway at Donetsk Airport on 3 November 1996 by several men posing as public force officers.[1][2]

Trial

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Among the killers were Vadim Bolotskikh, Gennadiy Zangelidi and others. Prosecutors have stated the murder was intended to eliminate competition for control of the natural gas industry.[1] In 2002, eight men were arrested and tried for the murder. All of them were found guilty, with three receiving life sentences.[1]

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Coincidentally, the event took place soon after replacement of the Governor of Donetsk Oblast Volodymyr Shcherban (no relation to Yevhen) with the former Minister of Coal Industry of Ukraine Serhiy Polyakov and the appointment of Viktor Yanukovych to the position of a deputy chairman.

Previously, in December 1995, when Serhiy Polyakov was appointed to the ministerial position in Donetsk, the Industrial Union of Donbas (ISD) was established. Nominally headed by Serhiy Taruta, many saw the real leader of the Union as Yevhen Shcherban. Preceding that, in October 1995, Akhat Bragin was assassinated. Since then a number of assassinations of lesser ISD members took place from January to July 1996. However, the assassination of Shcherban became the most noticeable, because he was a People's Deputy of Ukraine.

Shcherban Affair

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See also: Criminal cases against Yulia Tymoshenko since 2010 § Involvement in the murder of Yevhen Shcherban

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko was implicated in Shcherban's murder by the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Svyatoslav Piskun in January 2003.[1][2] Piskun was fired from the office of Prosecutor General by two presidents of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko, but both dismissals were voided by the courts. Since late October 2011 former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has also been implicated, particularly by the First Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Renat Kuzmin.[5] In late October 2011 Ukrainian prosecutors began investigating whether Tymoshenko and Lazarenko were involved in Shcherban's murder.[5][6][7] On 4 April 2012 Shcherban’s son, Ruslan, gave a press conference in Kyiv in which he implied he had new evidence in the case.[7] The wife of a key witness in the case, Izabella Kyrychenko who is a citizen of the United States, had complained that she was imprisoned to force a statement from her husband.[7][8] Arrested in late 2011,[9][10] she was released after three months from detention in the Lukyanivska Prison on health grounds. Coincidentally, her husband, Petro Kyrychenko was at the time giving testimony in connection with the Shcherban murder.[11] In 2012, the Pechersk District Court closed the case against Kyrychenko.[12][13]

On 18 January 2013, Tymoshenko was notified that she was a suspect for the murders of Shcherban, his wife and two other people in 1996.[14]

In 2020, Ruslan Shcherban took back the accusations he had made against Tymoshenko: “As an affected party I had the right to suspect anyone. I had to check it. I know today that Pavlo Lazarenko was the actual assassin's paymaster, and Yulia Tymoshenko had nothing to do with it.”[15]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Taylor: Firtash blames notorious 1996 murder on ex-premier Lazarenko, Kyiv Post (December 3, 2010)
  2. ^ a b c The clan from Donetsk PART I Archived 2013-02-13 at the Wayback Machine, The Ukrainian Weekly (January 12, 2003)
  3. ^ Unbroken Ties: The State, Interest Associations, and Corporatism in Post-Soviet Ukraine by Paul Kubicek, University of Michigan Press, 2002, ISBN 0472110306/ISBN 978-0472110308 (page 59)
  4. ^ Fight over natural gas trade seen at core of 1996 murder of wealthy Yevhen Shcherban, Kyiv Post (3 November 2011)
  5. ^ a b Ukraine to investigate Tymoshenko over murder-report, Kyiv Post (30 October 2011)
  6. ^ Ukrainian prosecutors want to question ex-PM Lazarenko in US, Kyiv Post (29 October 2011)
  7. ^ a b c Prosecutors escalate accusations against Yulia Tymoshenko, Kyiv Post (5 April 2012)
  8. ^ US citizen says she was used as ‘bargaining chip’ in probe, Kyiv Post (23 March 2012)
  9. ^ Izabella Kyrychenko arrested in Kyiv. Mirror Weekly. 2011-9-4
  10. ^ Wife of the Lazarenko's former business partner is arrested in Kyiv. Kyiv Post. 2011-9-3
  11. ^ Volokova, S. Pavlo Lazarenko - Petro Kyrychenko: Kiss of Judas. Ukrayinska Pravda. 2004-4-13
  12. ^ The court closed the case against Kyrychenko who announced about connections between Tymoshenko and Lazarenko (Суд закрыл дела против Кириченко, заявившего о связи Тимошенко с Лазаренко.) podrobnosti.ua. 2013-1-26
  13. ^ The court closed the casse against Petro Kyrychenko. Holos Ukrayiny. 2013-1-28
  14. ^ "UKRAINIAN EX-PM SUSPECTED IN MURDER CASE". AP. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
    Tymoshenko accused of murder Archived 2018-11-05 at the Wayback Machine, Euronews (19 January 2013)
    Jailed Ukraine ex-PM Tymoshenko suspected in long-dormant murder case, Montreal Gazette (19 January 2013)
    Ukraine Prosecutors Say Tymoshenko May Face Murder Charge, Bloomberg L.P. (18 January 2013)
    Ukraine prosecutor accuses Tymoshenko of murder, Reuters (18 January 2013)
  15. ^ ""По моим рукам текли мозги моего отца… Я ощутил, как из человека уходит душа". Полная текстовая версия интервью Руслана Щербаня". gordonua.com. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
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