On January 7, the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv extended the preventive measure of MP Yevhen Shevchenko, who is suspected of high treason. He will be under arrest until March 7, 2025, without the right to bail.
This was reported by Suspilne from the courtroom.
The prosecutor insisted on such a precautionary measure. He believes that the suspected MP may be hiding from the investigation abroad.
Also, according to the prosecution, after Shevchenkoʼs arrest, some of the videos that were used as evidence of the MPʼs treason were destroyed. The MPʼs lawyer says there is no evidence that the YouTube channel from which the recordings were deleted could belong to Shevchenko.
Shevchenko himself called the case against him a “political order.” According to him, the videos with his participation were posted by other people, and he simply expressed his opinion in them. The MP also stated that fleeing Ukraine was “unprofitable” for him.
What is Shevchenko suspected of?
In the fall of 2024, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) exposed MP Yevhen Shevchenko for spreading information that the Ukrainian authorities had allegedly brought the country to complete collapse, loss of territories and people. He spoke about the incorrectness and inexpediency of Ukraineʼs current foreign and domestic political course, and also publicly called for changing the boundaries of the territory and state border of Ukraine.
The investigation established that Shevchenko traveled to Belarus in September 2020, when protests were ongoing there, and met with self-proclaimed President Alexander Lukashenko. The deputy and his close relatives conducted active business with representatives of Belarus — buying goods there at low prices, they imported them to Ukraine through another European country and sold them much more expensively.
Shevchenko also tried to discredit Western partners and European values. In particular, he said that the West was not only interfering in Ukraineʼs internal affairs and causing war in the country, but was also trying to undermine stability in Georgia and Moldova.
- Shevchenko entered parliament in 2019 from the Servant of the People party. In May 2021, he was expelled from the faction after the MP flew to Minsk to meet with Lukashenko, although Ukraine does not recognize him as the legitimate president of Belarus.
- Shevchenko supports the self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, and he also welcomed the detention of oppositionist Roman Protasevich. Shevchenko himself has repeatedly asked to be expelled from the faction.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.