Lawyers representing Gyunguz Mamedov have demanded to see ‘secret letters’ from Ukraine’s Security Service [SBU] which Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova cited when tackled by human rights NGOs over why she had removed Mamedov from his post as highly effective head of the crucial ‘War Department’. Representatives of some of Ukraine’s most prominent NGOs reported that, during the meeting on 5 July, Venediktova spent two hours effectively ducking the question of why she had taken a decision with potentially disastrous impact on Ukraine’s legal cases against Russia over its occupation of Crimea and military aggression in Donbas. Mamedov’s removal and the extraordinary decision to strip him of his access to state secrets comes just weeks before the seventh anniversary of the downing of MH17. Mamedov has headed the Ukrainian team of investigators taking part in the Joint Investigation Team on MH17, with JIT’s findings of critical importance for the trial now underway in the Netherlands and several interstate cases against Russia in international courts, including over MH17.
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Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova reacts at a joint briefing with Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Ivan Bakanov on reports of suspicion to Ukrainian MPs on May 11, 2021.
