Ex-MP Svyatash was sentenced in absentia to 12 years for justifying the war and fraud

Former MP of the “Party of Regions” and "Renaissance" Dmytro Svyatash was sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison for justifying Russiaʼs war against Ukraine and fraud in the amount of 2.2 billion hryvnias.

This was reported by the Kyiv City Prosecutorʼs Office without naming names. The identity of the ex-MP follows from the details of the case.

The prosecutor proved in court that throughout 2022, the former MP published posts on Facebook with narratives that Russia is not waging war against Ukraine, and also called on the residents of the temporarily occupied territory to agree to cooperate with the Russian military.

In addition, during 2008-2014, the accused was the beneficiary of a group of enterprises that assembled and sold cars from Russia. Covering the financial crisis of 2008, Svyatash took out a credit line at the bank for more than $50 million and did not return a total of almost 2.2 billion hryvnias.

The sentence was handed down by the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv. Svyatash was not present at the trial because he has been hiding in Russia since 2019. However, the trial took place with the participation of the defense attorney under the contract with the accused.

• In November 2023, President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed sanctions, in particular, against Dmytro Svyatash, former MP of IV-VIII convocations. And in May of the same year, the SBU notified Svyatash of suspicion of treason under martial law.