Enlarge image
Petro Poroshenko on his return to Kiev
Photo: SERGEY DOLZHENKO / EPA
Petro Poroshenko is back in Kiev.
The Ukrainian ex-president landed on Monday with a plane from Warsaw at the capital's airport.
In his homeland, the former head of state is threatened with a trial for high treason.
Poroshenko is accused of being involved in the sale of large quantities of coal by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine between 2014 and 2015.
Poroshenko is said to have helped the separatists as a former president to sell coal worth the equivalent of almost 50 million euros to Kiev and thus supported "terrorist organizations".
According to Poroshenko, his passport was confiscated at the airport in Kiev.
State authorities, on the other hand, announced that Poroshenko had refused to accept a court summons.
His companions also put up physical resistance.
The 56-year-old was greeted by numerous supporters in front of the terminal.
Poroshenko is now to go to a court that is to decide on his further whereabouts.
Poroshenko was President of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019 and, as the owner of the Roshen group of companies, is one of the richest businessmen in the country.
In 2019, after a corruption scandal and an election defeat, he was replaced in office by current President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
If Poroshenko is convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison, according to the AP news agency.
His supporters rate the process as politically motivated.
Poroshenko insists on his innocence and accused Zelenskyy of wanting to distract from the current problems in Ukraine with the actions of the judiciary against him.
fek/Reuters
