Ukrainian MPs vote to send Yanukovych to The Hague to face trial

Yanukovych is on the run and believed to be in Crimea. The interim government is trying to hunt him down and capture him.The parliament voted that the former interior minister Vitali Zakharchenko and the prosecutor general, Viktor Pshonka, should also be sent to the international criminal court. The pair have also fled Kiev, along with a number of other key Yanukovych aides.On Tuesday afternoon, unconfirmed reports emerged that Andriy Kluyev, Yanukovych's chief of staff, had been wounded during a gun battle. He was reported to have been shot in the leg after his car came under fire when he was travelling back to Kiev after visiting Yanukovych in Crimea. However, none of the details could be confirmed.Yanukovych's extravagant residence outside Kiev has been opened to the public, and Ukrainian investigative journalists have begun releasing online incriminating documents found at the mansion, in a project called "Yanukovych leaks". They say they have found evidence of corruption and plans to clear Independence Square of protesters using force.Pictures from Pshonka's gaudy mansion were also posted online, and showed a portrait of the prosecutor general dressed as a Roman emperor as well as hundreds of lavish gold ornaments.Senior figures in Washington claimed that Yanukovych spent at least an hour in consultation with US vice-president Joe Biden in the days before he fled the capital. According to the anonymous US officials, Biden found the beleaguered Ukrainian leader to be initially defiant, accusing protesters in control of the Kiev streets of terrorism.Speaking through a translator from his office in the west wing of the White House, Biden reportedly warned Yanukovych that leaders in his position were often "a day late and a dollar short" in their attempts to appease political protesters.In The Hague, a spokesman for the ICC told Reuters it had not yet received a request from the new Ukrainian government to investigate events in Kiev."A government can make a declaration accepting the court's jurisdiction for past events," said Fadi El Abdallah. He said the court's own prosecutor would then decide whether to proceed.Oleh Tiahnybok, leader of the nationalist Svoboda party, said: "It is very important that we had a positive vote today. Now we are inviting all the people of goodwill who have any materials including video, photos or papers that we may need to properly submit to Hague tribunal the papers about crimes against people, crimes against Ukrainians, and violations of human rights that were committed by those criminals in Yanukovych's regime."The parliament will select a new prime minister on Thursday, and presidential elections are scheduled for 25 May. The former heavyweight boxer Vitali Klitschko confirmed on Tuesday that he would run.The former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was released from jail on Saturday, has not yet said whether she will stand. She said she would travel to Germany in March for treatment of a back problem that has confined her to a wheelchair.Most western countries have said they recognise the transition of power in Kiev and are working to ensure that smooth and inclusive politics can take hold. The EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton – in Kiev on a two-day visit – said: "We are here to say we want to support and help the country to stay strong and to go forward in the way it chooses to."Russia, however, has questioned the legitimacy of the new government. The Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, said "masked and armed people are no partners for dialogue", and Moscow has recalled its ambassador from Kiev.Vladimir Putin has not yet commented on the situation, but there are fears that Moscow could stir up unrest in the pro-Russian Crimean peninsula. A new pro-Russian mayor was installed in the city of Sevastopol on Monday.The leader of Russia's Communist party, Gennady Zyuganov, said the situation in Ukraine was a "political Chernobyl, no less dangerous than a nuclear one".Ukraine's acting president, Oleksander Turchinov, and security chiefs expressed concern about "signs of separatism" and threats to the country's territorial integrity, primarily from Russian-speaking Crimea.Turchinov summoned the "power ministries and agencies" to discuss Crimea after protests on the southern peninsula against the interim leadership that has replaced Yanukovich.The health ministry said on Tuesday that 726 people were injured during last week's clashes, of whom 491 were hospitalised. At least 82 people died.The centre of Kiev is still a protest camp, protected by barricades. Kiev's chief architect said on Tuesday that when the protest movement vacated the centre of the city, a new architectural design should be given to the square and a monument erected to those who died.(theguardian.com)ANN.Az