Viktor Medvedchuk was deprived of the right to practice as a lawyer

Author:
Sofiia Telishevska
Date:

The Chamber of the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Kyiv region Bar Association deprived Viktor Medvedchuk of the right to practice as a lawyer.

This was reported by the founder of the Titykalo and Partners law firm, Roman Titykalo.

Since 2016, human rights defenders have been working to deprive Medvedchuk of the right to advocate. Thus, they wanted to restore justice for the conviction of Vasyl Stus.

In 1980, the Ukrainian poet was sentenced to 10 years of forced labor and five years of exile for anti-Soviet activities. Medvedchuk was the poetʼs lawyer. He is accused of breaching legal ethics during this process. He himself does not admit guilt.

During the announcement of the last verdict, Medvedchuk said that "I consider the qualification of the courtʼs actions correct." Vasyl Stus was not allowed to say the last word.

After the death of the Ukrainian dissident, Medvedchuk headed the administration of President Leonid Kuchma. Later, he became the godfather of Russian President Putin, who baptized the daughter of Medvedchuk and Marchenko Darina. Medvedchuk also participated in the Minsk negotiation process.

Vasyl Stus probably died in the cell from hypothermia due to cardiac arrest, but there is a version that the death was caused by blows from the prison bunks by the warders. The burial took place without the presence of relatives, and the poetʼs death was concealed from September 4, 1985, to mid-October.