Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has been charged with high treason. The politician and businessman has denied the charges and blamed current Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for political persecution, US broadcaster Radio Free Europe reports.
The former president held the post from 2014 to 2019. He is now a member of Ukraines Verkhovna Rada and the leader of the opposition European Solidarity party Poroshenko is under investigation for alleged high treason linked to the sale of coal that helped finance Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014-15 while he was President.
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Facing trial on Monday, January 17, Poroshenko held a press conference over the weekend in Warsaw, where he pledged fight the charges after spending around a month abroad. «I return to Ukraine to fight for Ukraine, not to fight with Zelenskiy,» Poroshenko told reporters in the Polish capital. «I think this is a very irresponsible action of the current leadership to disintegrate the country and ruin the unity».
Earlier this month, a court in Kyiv froze Poroshenko’s property as part of a formal investigation into alleged high treason. In December, prosecutors requested a Ukrainian court to arrest Poroshenko with the possibility of bail worth tens of millions of euros, Radio Free Europe reports.
Ukrainian ex-President Poroshenko tried for alleged high treason
