President’s Chief of Staff calls PGO ‘blackmail instrument’

Secretariat Chief of Staff Viktor Baloha thinks that charges against former interior minister Yuriy Lutsenko, who leads the People’s Self-Defense campaign, as well as today’s search in his apartment, obviously show that the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) is controlled by the ruling coalition and its government, according to the President`s press-office.

      “Yesterday, the President spoke about the privatized Prosecutor General’s Office during his meeting with Prime Minister [Yanukovych] and Parliament Speaker [Moroz] and today it showed that the President’s criticism had been fair,” he said.

      Baloha said the search in Lutsenko’s home showed that the PGO "is becoming an instrument of blackmail.”

      “The morning visit and search is a clear signal to all those who disagree with the government’s new course… Our society is being shown the new role of the PGO, repressive for some people and ‘whitening’ for others,” he said, adding that Prosecutor General Medvedko and his office were driven mainly by political motives. This is why the PGO closed a number of controversial cases against Ukraine’s odious figures, whose actions had affected thousands of Ukrainians, he added.

      Baloha presumed the PGO sought to limit the efforts of Lutsenko and those who support his campaign.

      “The PGO is apparently trying to put out social protests which make the country’s ruling parties nervous,” he said.

      Baloha expressed hopes all illegal motives would be removed from the so-called Lutsenko case.

      “The PGO should prove in court and explain to our society that its charges against Lutsenko are substantiated, otherwise the remaining faith of Ukrainians in honest law enforcement officers will be ruined forever.”