Weaponized Accountability: When Due Process Becomes Ammunition
By: Giorgio Provinciali
Live from Ukraine
Kropyvnytskyj – Ukrainian foreign intelligence claims that the Kremlin has identified three strategies to run a media campaign aimed at destabilizing Ukraine and reducing foreign support by hiding Russia’s military failures and economic problems: discrediting Ukraine’s military mobilization and leadership, discrediting Zelensky and his associates, and stopping the media scandal surrounding Yermak and Yuliia Mendel’s interview from being removed from the European information space.
Signs of its activation are already apparent, as – even amid extreme eventslike the most devastating Russian attack since the start of the war and Ukraine’s largest response in the Moscow region – part of the Italian media has turned attention to a story involving a man linked to a case initiated by Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies NABU and SAP.
The Kremlin is fully aware of which Western media outlets are best suited to amplify any useful narrative against Kyiv. Several voices, speaking with a judicial tone, have depicted the former head of Ukraine’s President’s Office as if he were already a common criminal, suggesting he might be allowed to return to light with an electronic bracelet instead of acknowledging him as a suspect still protected by the presumption of innocence. Celebratory descriptions of the arrest and cryptic remarks about Zelensky not being a suspect in the case have been circulating for days on social media, echoing the ongoing waves of drone strikes and civilian casualties.
Guilty or innocent, Andriy Yermak has already been weaponized into information ammunition. While the presumption of innocence is a right under the rule of law – even against propaganda – many in Italy have argued the opposite: that the strength of the Rule of Law lies in its ability to reach anyone, unequivocally, regardless of the situation.
The current Russian regime doesn’t need to either absolve or condemn Yermak: as long as Europe talks about Ukraine not as a country hit by bombs and missiles, capable of a large-scale response in the fifth year of its invasion, but as a corrupt and decayed system to keep its distance from, the goal is reached.
The European Union Ambassador, Katarína Mathernová, herself stated that the procedure could be used in the hybrid war against Ukraine, and that the fact a former head of the presidency appears before the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) shows the institutions’ ability to function even during a Russian invasion. A politically correct, yet incomplete statement, because the real issue with a procedure involving the most powerful man in the Ukrainian presidential system – just as Ukraine is fighting its most difficult war in history – isn’t just how Moscow can exploit it.
Faced with pressure on Kyiv and all the American political interference elsewhere, many in Ukraine argued that Washington was trying to exert influence on formally “independent” and nearly untouchable organizations like anti-corruption groups to sway Ukrainian power from within. A thesis that cannot be proven, yet neither dismissed as paranoia, considering the entire Ukrainian anti-corruption system was built within a web of Western influence, internationalized decisions, technical assistance, funding, audits, and cooperation.
Appearing before the court as an activist and journalist, Irma Kratt declaredat the end of Yermak’s hearing that he would be persecuted for alleged work aimed at restoring Ukraine to nuclear power status. A weak yet difficult to prove explanation, but its media success speaks volumes about the climate surrounding the case. With approximately 200 payments and contributions from individuals and legal entities, the deposit of 140 million hryvnia – about 3 million euros – was paid in full within a short timeframe, allowing Yermak to be released from the detention center.
Are NABU and SAP independent from the Ukrainian government? In part, yes, and that is precisely their purpose. But they are not independent from the Western conditionality architecture that they generated, financed, protected, and shaped. NABU’s official story speaks: its establishment was bound by all the demands of international partners, and its director, Semen Kryvonos, was chosen by a commission that included representatives of foreign organizations.
Since February 2022, through INL, the U.S. Department of State has dedicated more than $50 million to strengthening Ukrainian anti-corruption institutions, including NABU and SAP. It has assisted the NABU staff selection process with psychological testing and assessments. It has deployed an FBI anti-corruption special agent to Kyiv to work embedded with NABU. It has supported SAP’s operational separation from the Prosecutor General’s Office by providing services, equipment, computers, and support for the communications team. Memoranda between U.S. inspectorates and their Ukrainian counterparts also formalize information exchange, investigative cooperation, and, when appropriate, joint investigations.
Europe is also not a spectator. The EU Anti-Corruption Initiative describes its collaboration with NABU as a systemic and long-term partnership. It has supported the eCase digital infrastructure, which connects NABU, SAPO, and HACC into a single ecosystem. It supported legislative reforms and the inclusion of international experts in the selection of top officials. Even the process for selecting judges at the High Anti-Corruption Court involves a public Council of international experts with profiles from the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Estonia, and Lithuania, recommended by the EU, OLAF, and the OECD.
Calling it “independence” is therefore an oversimplification. It is independence from Ukrainian political power achieved through structural reliance on Western conditionality, funding, training, auditing, and legitimacy.
This doesn’t prove external involvement, nor does it indicate that a single investigation was ordered from Washington, Brussels, or any other capital. However, it shows that Ukrainian anti-corruption efforts also serve as a form of external intervention aimed at preventing internal control.
It may have been necessary. It may have produced results. It may have saved investigations that the old system would have buried. But it is not sovereign neutrality.
If not subject to very clear limits, any power of interdiction can be turned into a tool of political pressure.
Corruption must be fought. But when Western media overlook the dead buried under the rubble to focus on a still-open case, the Law is not celebrated: it is enlisted.
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武器化的问责：当正当程序沦为弹药
作者：Giorgio Provinciali
翻译：旺财球球
乌克兰前线报道
克罗皮夫尼茨基 ——乌克兰对外情报机构称，克里姆林宫已确定三种策略，试图通过媒体运动，破坏乌克兰稳定并削弱外界支持，同时掩盖俄罗斯的军事失利和经济问题：抹黑乌克兰的军事动员与领导层、抹黑泽连斯基及其同僚，以及阻止围绕耶尔马克与尤利娅·门德尔采访的媒体丑闻从欧洲信息空间被清除。
（图：乌克兰对外情报机构的一则帖文）
这些行动迹象已开始显现，即便在像自战争开始以来最具破坏性的俄罗斯袭击以及乌克兰在莫斯科地区的最大规模反击这类极端事件发生时，意大利部分媒体的注意力仍转向了一起与乌克兰反腐机构NABU与SAP发起的案件相关的男子的故事。
（图表出处并致谢：TopLeadEU
克里姆林宫非常清楚哪些西方媒体最适合放大任何对基辅不利的叙事。若干带有司法口吻的声音，已经将前总统办公厅主任描述得仿佛是已被定罪的普通罪犯，暗示他或可佩戴电子脚镣重见天日，而非承认他仍作为嫌疑人应受无罪推定保护。有关逮捕的庆祝性描述以及关于泽连斯基并非该案嫌疑人的隐晦言论在社交媒体上流传数日，与持续的无人机袭击与平民伤亡浪潮相呼应。
（音频：与各位分享我作为Mark McNamee节目“History in the Maling: The War in Ukraine”来宾的最新发言）
无论有罪或无罪，安德烈·耶尔马克已被武器化为信息弹药。尽管无罪推定是法治下的一项权利——即使在面对宣传战也不例外，但许多意大利人却持相反观点：认为法治的力量在于其能无条件、明确地伸及任何人，不受局势限制。
当前的俄国政权并不需要对耶尔马克开脱，也无需定罪：只要欧洲谈论乌克兰时，不再将其视为一个遭导弹与炸弹打击、却仍能在战争第五年实施大规模反击的国家，而是视其为一个腐败衰败、应保持距离的体系，其目标就已经实现。
（视频：不久将有另一期类似“伦敦时报前线”的节目。我将直接从乌克兰顿涅茨克州录制）
欧盟驻乌大使卡塔丽娜·马特尔诺娃本人表示，该程序可能被用于对乌克兰的混合战争中，而一名前总统办公厅主任出现在高等反腐法院（HACC）受审也表明乌机构即便在俄罗斯入侵期间也能运作。此番表述政治上正确却不完整，问题的关键，并不仅在于莫斯科如何利用此案，而在于：当乌克兰正经历历史上最艰难的战争，这一涉及总统体系中最有权势人物的程序本身意味着什么。
面对对基辅的压力以及美国在其他领域的政治干预，乌克兰许多人认为华盛顿试图对形式上“独立”、且几乎不可触及的组织，如反腐机构施加影响，以从内部左右乌克兰权力。这一论断无法证实，但也不能简单地归为偏执，考虑到整个乌克兰反腐体系是在西方影响网络内建立的，伴随国际化决策、技术援助、资金、审计与合作。
以活动家和记者身份出庭的伊尔玛·克拉特在耶尔马克听证会结束时宣称，他将因据称旨在恢复乌克兰为核强国的工作而被迫害。该解释站不住脚且难以证明，但其在媒体上的成功充分说明了案件周边的舆论氛围。通过约200笔个人和法人支付与捐款，1.4亿格里夫纳（约合300万欧元）的保证金在短期内全额缴纳，使耶尔马克得以从羁押中心获释。
（图：伊尔玛·克拉特在耶尔马克听证后发言——照片来自“RBK Ukraine”的视频）
NABU和SAP是否独立于乌克兰政府？在某种程度上是的，这正是其设立的初衷。但它们并非独立于西方塑造、资助、保护并影响的条件性架构。NABU的官方说辞显示：其成立与国际伙伴的要求密不可分，其主任谢门·克吕沃诺斯也是由包含外国组织代表的委员会选出。
自2022年2月以来，通过INL，美国国务院已投入逾5000万美元以加强乌克兰反腐机构，包括NABU与SAP。它协助NABU人员遴选程序，提供心理测试与评估；派遣FBI反腐特工驻基辅，与NABU并肩工作；通过提供服务、设备、电脑及通讯团队支持，协助SAP实现从检察总长办公室的操作性独立。美国监察机构与乌方对应机构之间的备忘录也使信息交流、调查合作以及在适当情况下的联合调查制度化。
欧洲也并非旁观者。欧盟反腐倡议将其与NABU的合作描述为系统性且长期的伙伴关系。它支持连接NABU、SAPO与HACC的eCase数字基础设施，推动立法改革并将国际专家纳入高层官员遴选程序。即便是高等反腐法院法官的遴选过程，也涉及一由美国、加拿大、荷兰、爱沙尼亚和立陶宛专家组成的公开国际专家委员会，系欧盟、OLAF及经合组织推荐。
因此称之为“独立”过于简化。它是一种通过对西方条件、资金、培训、审计与合法性结构性依赖而实现的、相对于乌克兰政治权力的独立。
这并不证明存在外部介入，也不表明某项调查是由华盛顿、布鲁塞尔或其他任何首都下令发起的。然而，这显示乌克兰的反腐努力也作为一种外部干预机制，旨在防止内部失控。
这可能是必要的。可能取得了成效。可能挽救了旧体制本会掩埋的调查。但它并非主权中立。
如果缺乏非常明确的界限，任何干预权力都可能被转化为政治施压的工具。
必须打击腐败。但当西方媒体忽视埋在瓦砾下的死者，而把注意力放在一起尚未结案的案件上时，法律并非受到颂扬：它被征用。
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