Yevgeny Vasilyevich Shevchuk (russian: Евге́ний Васи́льевич Шевчу́к,
tr. ''Yevgeniy Vasilyevich Shevchuk'', uk, Євге́н Васи́льович Шевчу́к,
tr. ''Yevhen Vasylovych Shevchuk'',
Moldovan Cyrillic
The Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet is a Cyrillic alphabet designed for the Romanian language spoken in the Soviet Union ( Moldovan) and was in official use from 1924 to 1932 and 1938 to 1989 (and still in use today in the breakaway Moldovan regio ...
: Евгени Васильевичь Шевчюк, ro, Evgheni Vasilievici Șevciuc; born 19 June 1968) is a
Transnistrian
Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...
former politician who served as the 2nd President of the internationally unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, better known as Transnistria, from 2011 to 2016.
He was a deputy to the
Supreme Soviet of Transnistria
The Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic ( ro, Sovietul Suprem al Republicii Moldovenești Nistrene, Moldovan Cyrillic: Советул Супрем ал Републичий Молдовенешть Нистрене; russian ...
from 2000 until
his election as president in 2011. Furthermore, he was speaker of
Pridnestrovian Supreme Soviet from 2005 to 2009 and the leader of the political party
Obnovlenie until 2010. Shevchuk is an
ethnic Ukrainian and a citizen of both Transnistria and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
.
In 2017, Shevchuk fled to
Moldova
Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...
while being pursued on criminal charges. In December 2018, he was sentenced ''in absentia'' to 16 years in prison and a fine of about 36 million US dollars.
Early life
Yevgeny was born in
Rybnitsa,
Moldavian SSR
The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( ro, Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic: ) was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 194 ...
,
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
(now Rîbnița,
Transnistria
Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...
,
Moldova
Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...
). He is a
lawyer who has worked in government and private business. His biography profile describes him as "
social democratic technocrat with a European outlook, and a man of profound
democratic beliefs".
Politics
As part of the minority opposition in parliament prior to December 2005, he spearheaded a reform drive by his party to introduce changes to Transnistria's electoral code. Among the changes were a requirement that purely technical qualifications be used as the basis for selecting polling station chairmen and a rule prohibiting state-owned media outlets (radio, TV, newspapers, etc.) from publishing results of polls and forecasts related to elections, so as to not influence free voter choice. This was reported in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005.
In a 2005 report the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe referred to Shevchuk in the context of democratic reform, noting that Transnistria "is moving towards more pluralism" and highlighted "the Transnistrian parliament's own initiatives on the reform of the political system" which were spearheaded by Shevchuk's bloc. After that the European Parliament banned Shevchuk from entry to the EU countries.
On 22 July 2009, Shevchuk resigned from his post as speaker of parliament.
Anatoliy Kaminski, who was vice-speaker under Shevchuk and is vice chairman of Shevchuk's Obnovlenie party, was the only nominee to succeed him.
Mikhail Burla
Mikhail Porfirovich Burla (russian: Михаи́л Порфирович Бурла; uk, Михайло Порфірович Бурла, ''Mykhaylo Profirovych Burla''; born 22 November 1957 in village Mejdurechie, Storozhynets Raion, Chernivtsi ...
, leader of Obnovlenie and Chairman of the Committee for economic policy, budget and finance, was elected as the new vice-speaker. Shevchuk cited a controversial attempt to revise the county's
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
by president
Igor Smirnov Igor Smirnov may refer to:
*Igor Smirnov (politician) (born 1941), president of the unrecognized Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic
* Igor Smirnov (scientist) (1951–2004), controversial Russian mind control researcher
See also
* Igor Mirnov
Igo ...
as the main reason for his resignation.
Presidency
In December 2011, Shevchuk was elected president of Transnistria. He won the first round of the
presidential elections on 11 December, polling higher than either the sitting president Igor Smirnov or the Kremlin-backed Supreme Soviet chairman Anatoliy Kaminski. He then won the second round of voting with over 75% support on 25 December. He was inaugurated on 30 December 2011.
On 7 September 2016, Shevchuk issued the Decree No. 348 "On the implementation of the results of the republican referendum held on 17 September 2006" in order to possibilitate
a possible future annexation of Transnistria by Russia and to synchronize Transnistrian laws with Russian ones.
He was defeated for re-election
in 2016.
Post-presidency
On 28 June 2017, the parliament of Transnistria voted to remove Shevchuk's immunity from prosecution in connection with five pending criminal cases against the former President. Prior to this, on the evening of 27 June, Shevchuk crossed the border into Moldova. Shevchuk claimed that he crossed from PMR to Moldova in a taxi, whilst Russian-language media and certain PMR officials reported that he sailed across the Dnestr in a boat. On 30 June, Moldovan officials stated that they would not hand Shevchuk over to Transnistria.
Transnistria issued an arrest warrant for Shevchuk at the end of November 2017.
Later criminal cases count was raised up to six. Shevchuk is accused of
corruption,
smuggling,
abuse of power
Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other t ...
,
misappropriation
In law, misappropriation is the unauthorized use of another's name, likeness, identity, property, discoveries, inventions, etc without that person's permission, resulting in harm to that person.
Another use of the word refers to intentional a ...
of state money in especially large amounts, as well as unreasonable delay in the payment of pensions and salaries. In total, Shevchuk faced up to 12 years in prison.
On 21 December 2018, Shevchuk was sentenced ''in absentia'' by the Supreme Court to 16 years in prison and a fine of 600 million
ruble
The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union.
, currencies named ''rub ...
(about 36 million US dollars). The Supreme Court also denied Shevchuk state awards and banned him from holding public office for five years after his release. According to media reports, Shevchuk was in Russia.
References
External links
*
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shevchuk, Yevgeny
1968 births
Living people
People from Rîbnița
Presidents of Transnistria
Obnovlenie politicians
Transnistrian people of Ukrainian descent
Members of the Supreme Council (Transnistria)
Transnistrian politicians
Heads of government who were later imprisoned