Melnyk most likely stays in Ukraine - former Interior Ministry official

Former First Deputy Interior Minister and Chairman of the Expert Advisory Council at the Ukrainian Interior Ministry Mykhailo Korniyenko said this in a conversation with a Ukrinform correspondent.

"I'm confident that Melnyk stays in Ukraine. It's too risky for him to try to flee the country, given that his personal data have been transferred to the database of the Border Guard Service," Korniyenko said.

He said that people who advised the former rector to escape and probably helped him do that had made him a disservice.

"Melnyk will be detained in the near future. He won't escape anywhere, but now he will face serious trouble because of escape and real arrest," the expert said.

Korniyenko also said that it was unnecessary to "make a tragedy" of the incident and accuse the police of letting the detainee escape.

"According to statistics, in many countries there are cases of escape by prisoners who had electronic bracelets put on. This system has not yet been worked out in Ukraine so now we should not criticize it, but to think how to improve it," the ex-official of the Interior Ministry said.

At the same time, he said it was unclear why the court decided to place Melnyk under house arrest, rather than take him into custody, as insisted by investigators and prosecutors.

"The agency handling the case should investigate the situation with Melnyk's escape. And it started investigating it. I think that soon we will get answers to all questions," Korniyenko said.

As reported, Melnyk, who was detained for bribery on July 27, escaped house arrest on August 9, having removed an electronic tracking bracelet. The Interior Ministry put him on the wanted list.

On August 1, Pechersky District Court in Kyiv decided to place Melnyk under house arrest, and a tracking bracelet was put on him on August 7.

ap