Yevgeny Shevchuk
Yevgeny Shevchuk | |
|---|---|
 Shevchuk in 2016 | |
| 2nd President of Transnistria | |
| In office 30 December 2011 – 16 December 2016 | |
| Prime Minister | Pyotr Stepanov Tatiana Turanskaya Maija Parnas (Acting) Tatiana Turanskaya Maija Parnas (Acting) Pavel Prokudin |
| Preceded by | Igor Smirnov |
| Succeeded by | Vadim Krasnoselsky |
| Speaker of Parliament | |
| In office 28 December 2005 – 8 July 2009 | |
| President | Igor Smirnov |
| Preceded by | Grigore Mărăcuţă |
| Succeeded by | Anatoliy Kaminski |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Yevgeny Vasylovych Shevchuk 19 June 1968 Rybnitsa, Moldavian SSR, Soviet Union (now Rîbniţa, Moldova) |
| Political party | Independent |
| Spouse | Nina Shtanski |
| Alma mater | Transnistria State University All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade Ukrainian Agricultural Academy |
Yevgeny Vasylyevich Shevchuk (Russian: Евге́ний Васи́льевич Шевчу́к, tr. Yevgeniy Vasilyevich Shevchuk, Ukrainian: Євге́н Васи́льович Шевчу́к, tr. Yevhen Vasylovych Shevchuk, Moldovan Cyrillic: Евгений Васильевичи Шевчук, Romanian: Evgheni Vasilievici Șevciuk; born 19 June 1968) is a former President of the internationally unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, better known as Transnistria. He was a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of Transnistria 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 opposition party Renewal until 2010. Shevchuk is an ethnic Ukrainian and a citizen of both Transnistria and Russia.[1]
Early life
Yevgeny was born in Rybnitsa, Moldavian SSR, Soviet Union (now Rîbniţa, Transnistria, Moldova). 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 State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005.[2]
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.[3]
On 22 July 2009, Shevchuk resigned from his post as speaker of parliament.[4] Anatoliy Kaminski, who was vice-speaker under Shevchuk and is vice chairman of Shevchuk's Renewal party, was the only nominee to succeed him. Mikhail Burla, leader of Renewal 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 by president Igor Smirnov as the main reason for his resignation.[5]
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.[6] He then won the second round of voting with over 75% support on 25 December.[7] He was inaugurated on 30 December 2011.[8]
On 9 May 2016, Shevchuk was quoted as stating that "I am sure that sooner or later we will be a united country with Russia."[9]
Life after the presidency
On 28 June 2017, the parliament of Transnistria voted to remove Shevchuk's immunity from prosecution in connection with five[10] pending criminal cases against the former President. Prior to this, on the evening of 27 June, Shevchuk crossed the border into Moldova.[11] Shevchuk claimed that he crossed from PMR to Moldova in a taxi[12], whilst Russian-language media[13] and certain PMR officials[14] reported that he sailed across the Dnestr in a boat. On 30 June, Moldavian officials stated that they would not hand Shevchuk over to Transnistria.[15]
External links
References
- ^ http://lenta.ru/lib/14164168/
- ^ "2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Moldova". U.S. Department of State. 8 March 2006. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
- ^ Official Journal of the European Union: COUNCIL COMMON POSITION 2005/147/CFSP of 21 February 2005
- ^ Supreme Council - parliamentary news MPs vote on a resolution accepting the resignation of Parliamentary Speaker Yevgeny Shevchuk. (22 July 2009)
- ^ Yevgeny Shevchuk, "I call on you all to unite to protect our future, where there is the rule of law, the strong people are just, the weak people are protected, and everyone works and maintains stability”.
- ^ Запасной аэродром Игоря Смирнова: Предварительные результаты выборов президента могут признать недействительными, Независимая газета, 15 December 2011. http://www.ng.ru/cis/2011-12-15/1_smirnov.html
- ^ Выборы президента ПМР: 100% бюллетеней: за независимость - 76,4%, за "кандидата Кремля" - 20,2%, ИА REGNUM, 25 December 2011, http://www.regnum.ru/news/fd-abroad/moldova/1483475.html
- ^ Кремль дважды проиграл Приднестровье, Независимая газета, 27 December 2011, http://www.ng.ru/cis/2011-12-27/1_pridnestrovie.html
- ^ https://twitter.com/dnestrland/status/729610940480663552
- ^ "The ex-Transnistrian leader, Evgheni Shevchuk, charged in 5 criminal cases". Retrieved 2017-07-01.
- ^ "Экс-президент Приднестровья Шевчук тайно покинул республику". РИА Новости (in Russian). 28 June 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
- ^ "Из Приднестровья сбежал бывший президент непризнанной республики. Что случилось? — Meduza". Meduza (in Russian). Retrieved 2017-07-01.
{{cite news}}: no-break space character in|title=at position 3 (help) - ^ "Экс-президент Приднестровья сбежал на лодке в Молдавию". РБК. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
- ^ "Andrey Safonov". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
- ^ "Молдавия не выдаст Приднестровью экс-президента Шевчука". ТАСС (in Russian). Retrieved 2017-07-01.