National Deputy Yevhen Shcherban killed in gangland-style hit in Donetsk (11/10/96)

National Deputy Yevhen Shcherban killed in gangland-style hit in Donetsk

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukrainian Deputy Yevhen Shcherban was shot dead on November 3 in a gangland-style hit. He was one of Ukraine's most wealthy individuals and considered by many its top gangster.

The 50-year-old politician, who was the owner of Aton, an international trading firm that deals in the lucrative markets of energy and metals, was disembarking from a Donbas Airlines flight when three men opened fire with automatic pistols from under the wings of the airplane.

Mr. Shcherban, his wife and a Donbas Airlines technician were fatally wounded. His 20-year-old son survived by ducking under the limousine that awaited them at the foot of the stairs that led from the airplane. He was hospitalized with gun shot wounds.

Former Prime Minister Yevhen Marchuk, who at one time was also the director of Ukraine's security services, said, "It is a political killing. It shows that Ukraine, despite the many steps it has made to reform, still has much to do in terms of democratization," according to a November 5 Reuters report. He did not explain how it was politically motivated.

Mr. Shcherban was long thought to be connected with racketeers and was at times mentioned as tied in some way to the July assassination attempt on Petro Lazarenko, Ukraine's prime minister and a prominent businessman himself. Rumors have flown in Ukraine for some time that Mr. Shcherban led the Donetsk "clan" while Mr. Lazarenko heads the one from Dnipropetrovsk, which are the two most prominent political and economic centers in Ukraine other than the capital.

Two of the three individuals who carried out the slayings were dressed in Ukrainian military uniforms, one in navy aviation fatigues, the others in those of the airforce. In a country that still maintains strict control over access to public areas, they were never impeded as they drove onto the tarmac of the Donetsk airport.

At the entry point to the airport the three individuals showed Interior Ministry credentials and were allowed in. They drove onto the tarmac with no one questioning why such a car was there. As Mr. Shcherban descended the last step with his wife, the three opened fire.

Mr. Shcherban took three bullets in the head and several more in the chest before falling. The perpetrators then turned their weapons on the second floor of the airport's terminal, where many had crowded the windows, and sprayed it with bullets, injuring several before fleeing in their vehicle. Outside the airport the car was blown up and abandoned.

The newspaper Den reported that those who witnessed the killing were struck by the lack of reaction by Mr. Shcherban's bodyguards. Also worth noting, the director of the airport had called in sick a day earlier and was in a hospital when the killings occurred.

The mood in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada the next day was expectedly somber. On November 5 an arrangement of flowers with a swatch of black cloth was placed where Mr. Shcherban had sat. Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksander Moroz asked for a moment of silence. Then a special session of the Parliament took place regarding the problem of organized crime in Ukraine.

The head of Ukraine's Security Services Volodymyr Radchenko, Procurator General Hryhoriy Vorsinov, Supreme Court Chairman Bohdan Boyko and Vice Prime Minister Vasyl Durdynets all spoke out against the rising tide of organized crime in the country, but nothing was decided. It was merely more political rhetoric.

Mr. Shcherban and his wife were buried in Donetsk on November 7.