Lawmaker, formerly from Zelensky's parliament group, jailed for 9 years over 2020 graft case
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Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court on Sept. 11 sentenced lawmaker Oleksandr Yurchenko to nine years in prison for bribery in a six-year-old case, the Anti-Corruption Action Center watchdog reported.
Yurchenko, then a member of President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the People parliamentary group, was in 2020 accused by Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) of soliciting bribes.
This marked one of the first high-profile corruption investigations involving Zelensky's allies, coming only a year after Zelensky and his party's decisive victories in the 2019 elections.
The court found Yurchenko guilty of bribery and, in addition to the prison sentence, ordered the confiscation of his assets and barred him from holding certain public offices for three years.
Yurchenko can appeal the verdict, which will enter into force in 30 days.
The lawmaker was exposed in a sting operation in August 2020. Through an intermediary, Yurchenko was said to solicit bribes from an undercover NABU detective.
Specifically, the lawmaker asked for $13,000 for himself to propose legislative amendments and $200,000 to bribe other lawmakers, according to the investigation.
Yurchenko was expelled from Zelensky's parliamentary group in the wake of the 2020 scandal, with the president publicly commenting at the time that each official must know that "if you took a bribe, you will go to prison."
The case also drew scrutiny toward then-Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, who initially blocked bribery charges against Yurchenko before giving in to public pressure and authorizing them on Sept. 17, 2020.
