UKRAINE-LAVRA-RESERVE-SITUATION
Kyiv, August 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Former Director General of Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Historical and Cultural Reserve Viktoria Lisnycha, who has been dismissed recently, will strive to return to the position even through court, according to her lawyer Liudmyla Khodos.
“We have sent a letter to the [culture] minister, which reads that he issued this instruction [on the dismissal of Lisnycha] regardless of the current legislation and that we would like to regulate the issue in a peaceful way,” she said at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday.
In case the sides fail to settle the problem peacefully, Lisnycha will file a lawsuit to a court, the lawyer said.
According to Khodos, Lisnycha was hospitalized when the ministry dismissed her, and the minister was informed about her hospitalization on August 9 in the morning.
Moreover, Lisnycha was not informed about the reason for her dismissal.
In case the ex-director general applies to court, she will demand the ministry to return her to the position and pay a compensation for moral damage.
The lawyer also read aloud a letter from employees of the reserve to Ukrainian Premier Mykola Azarov demanding him to intervene in the situation and return Lisnycha to the position of director general. Otherwise, the employees promised to address UNESCO.
As reported, Viktoria Lisnycha was sacked on August 9 following the dismissal of a number of employees and a scandal with a bribe that former Deputy Director General for International Cooperation Vlada Prokayeva allegedly gave Culture Minister Mykhailo Kulyniak for her post.
According to the media, the checks of the Culture Ministry of Ukraine showed that Lisnycha made serious violations of the existing labor laws and terms of her contract with the ministry. In particular, on July 31 she ordered the dismissal of four employees of the museum complex, presumably based on the protocol of a meeting with the minister. However, the museum’s office has no such protocol.
In late July employees of the national reserve wrote an open letter to Ukrainian Culture Minister Mykhailo Kulyniak and asked him to dismiss Deputy Director General for Scientific and Sightseeing Activities Svitlana Zorynets and Deputy Director General for International Cooperation and ex-model Vlada Prokayeva. The employees explained their demand by the fact that the abovementioned persons threatened and “humiliated” them.
Later on, Prokayeva stated in public that she gave a bribe of $50,000 to Ukrainian Culture Minister Mykhailo Kulyniak for her appointment as deputy director general of Kyiv Pechersk Lavra National Historical and Cultural Reserve.
Prokayeva was dismissed from the post on July 31 after having worked at it for less than a month. According to media reports, the ex-model had a conflict with the director of the reserve, Viktoria Lisnycha.
In turn, the culture minister denied he had taken a bribe.
The Interior Ministry of Ukraine has been instructed by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine to check the statements by Vlada Prokayeva.
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14:55:52 EET-2
