Search underway of an opposition political party

Investigators from the Prosecutor General’s Office have been carrying out a search of the office of Ukrainian Social Democratic Party headed by Yevhen Korniychuk, former First Deputy Minister of Justice in Yulia Tymoshenko’s government and son-in-law of Vasyl Onopenko, the Head of the Supreme Court. According to the Press Secretary of the party, Krystina Shandrenko, reported in the early evening, the investigators had been there since about 9 a.m., sealing off the second and third floors of the offices. Ms Shandrenko asserts that the investigators broke into all the safes in the office. She also pointed out that the search was taking place at the weekend, and that the investigators had not said what they were looking for. They said, she asserts, that they would give an explanation after the search was over. As reported, the Prosecutor General instituted a criminal investigation against the former First Deputy Minister of Justice on 22 December. The charges are under Article 365 § 3 of the Criminal Code (exceeding official powers with serious consequences). He was arrested after a five hour interrogation and is now in custody.