Kryvy Rih Rector, Anatoly Temchenko’s torment not over

Ukraine has an absolutely pitiful rate of acquittals and the recent conviction of Kryvy Rih Rector, Anatoly Temchenko was, unfortunately, no surprise.  The sentence – 5 years imprisonment – remains shocking and an indictment of the justice system. 

As reported here, Mr Temchenko is 68 years old and has been held in the SIZO for over 19 months, accused of taking a bribe. His wife Valentina says that her husband has a number of serious illness including diabetes. Her conviction that her husband should not have been held in custody due to his state of health has been endorsed by the Kharkiv Human Rights Group and other human rights organizations.  KHPG’s Andriy Didenko has repeatedly stressed that such treatment is tantamount to torture.

The European Court of Human Rights even interceded recommending that Mr Temchenko receive proper hospital care.  There was long argument with the Government’s Representative asserting that Mr Temchenko had been offered hospitalization in Kryvy Rih and Dnipropetrovsk, and had turned it down.  The situation is not clear, but the hospital which those around Mr Temchenko believe is needed is the Strazhesko Cardiology Institute in Kyiv.

Andriy Didenko warns that Mr Temchenko’s blood pressure is dangerously high.

The court found him guilty of bribe-taking and sentenced him to five and a half years imprisonment. The appeal process could take around 3 months. If it fails, Mr Temchenko’s lawyer and his family fear that he will simply not live to serve it to the full.