A Ukrainian court has sentenced the country's former president Viktor Yanukovych in absentia to 15 years in prison on charges of misappropriation of state land, Ukrinform and TASS reported, citing a message on the “Telegram“ of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) of Ukraine, BTA reported.
“The former president of Ukraine has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. On January 20, 2026, a panel of judges of the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court announced the guilty verdict. The former president was found guilty of embezzling a forest plot in the Kyiv region with an area of 17.5 hectares and an estimated value of over 22 million hryvnias (over 500 thousand dollars), the statement said.
The verdict comes into force within 30 days after its announcement, if it is not appealed.
The SAP noted that “in 2007, the former Ukrainian president (who at the time of the crime was prime minister) with the aim of embezzling state property – plot of land from the forest fund, initiated a decision that led to the deduction of the specified plot from state property“.
“The former president's accomplices attracted close associates, appealed to the Kyiv Regional State Administration with requests for the allocation of plots of land with an area of up to 1 hectare and subsequently for a change in their purpose, which allowed for the later free transfer of the land to a company controlled by the former president“, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
In the period 2009-2011, a hotel complex with a restaurant was built on this plot, which was used by Yanukovych for personal purposes, the SAP notes.