KIEV, April 15 (RIA Novosti) – Kiev’s Prosecutor Office has initiated a case against pro-federalization presidential candidate Oleh Tsarev, charging him with “infringement of territorial sovereignty,” the office’s press service said Tuesday.
“The prosecutor’s reaction is in line with Tsarev’s speech during a public event as well as in the press, in which he called for the separation of the country, and encroached on the territorial sovereignty of the state with separatist intentions,” the press service said.
The 43-year-old Tsarev, a former member of parliament for the Party of Regions and a presidential candidate in Ukraine's upcoming May 25 election, was been brutally beaten by radicals in Kiev on Tuesday and is in critical condition.
After the attack, Tsarev, who is known as an active pro-federalization supporter and has served as chair of the Anti-Fascist Forum of Ukraine since 2011, said that he would not withdraw his candidacy.
Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, condemned the attack as violating the principle of a free and democratic election and also criticized the West’s “shy silence” towards the reports.
A total of 23 candidates will take part in the poll, 16 of them being self-nominees.
Ukraine underwent a regime change in February when the country’s parliament, backed by far-right movements, ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, amended the constitution and scheduled early presidential elections for May 25.
Moscow has described the events in Kiev as illegitimate, and considers federalization the only way out of the Ukrainian crisis. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called federalization an extremely important component constitutional reform for Ukraine.
