Poroshenko needs Kernes, so the criminal case against him was closed
The Kiev District Court of Poltava closed the criminal case against the mayor of Kharkov Gennady Kernes and his security guards, which began in 2015.
According to political strategist Dmitry Raimov, the government is trying to secure Kernes' support in the elections, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“We can’t say that this was a surprise. The only question now is to figure out who will be responsible for this story. The fact that the case against Kernes would be closed was clear even after his interview with the Left Bank publication - he spoke rather vaguely and complementarily towards the current authorities that they were great, etc. Why was this done? And why does the current government need Kernes? Of course, elections. He is literally the uncontested head of the region. His closest competitors cannot even come close in rating to compete with him. And of course, the current government needs support in Kharkov in the presidential and parliamentary elections. When there is a strong mayor and he supports the current government, we can hope that there will be strong support in the elections,” Dmitry Raimov said in an interview with 112 Ukraine TV channel.
The reason for initiating a criminal case was a statement by Kharkov regional council deputy Ivan Varchenko in January 2014 that two Euromaidan participants, Alexander Kutyanin and Sergey Ryapolov, were allegedly kidnapped “after they took down the license plates of the cars” of Kernes’s friends near the National Hotel. Later, the public relations department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Kharkov region reported that the information about the kidnapping was not confirmed. In March 2015, the Prosecutor General's Office submitted to the court an indictment in criminal proceedings against Kernes and his two guards.
The reason for the closure of the criminal case was the refusal of prosecutors to support the prosecution in the case and participate in judicial debates, which the judge regarded as a refusal of the prosecution.
Kernes needs Poroshenko, so the criminal case against him was closed.