SBI Opens Treason Case Against Poroshenko – Portnov

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has opened criminal proceedings against former president Petro Poroshenko on suspicion of treason.

The former deputy head of the Presidential Administration, Andrii Portnov, announced this in his channel in the Telegram messenger, the Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"The State Bureau of Investigation launched a criminal investigation of Petro Poroshenko today on suspicion of committing treason during the signing of the Minsk agreements," he wrote.

According to him, the State Bureau of Investigation opened the case under Article 111 (high treason) of the Criminal Code.

“Thus, the agreements that P. Poroshenko reached on February 11-12, 2015 significantly narrowed subsequent Ukrainian authorities … options for establishing peace and restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity because the agreements are perceived… as binding on Ukraine, regardless of who rules the country, thanks to his actions and propaganda claiming that these agreements are effective and that there are no alternatives to them," a lawyer said in a statement filed with the State Bureau of Investigation on December 9.

As Ukrainian News Agency reported earlier, the State Bureau of Investigation’s Director Roman Truba recently said that the criminal cases against Poroshenko could be closed if a representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office was appointed as the acting director of the State Bureau of Investigation.