Former Ukrainian politician Andri Portnov was shot dead near a school in Madrid.
Andri Portnov, who had just dropped his children off at the center, had been an advisor to President Viktor Yanukovych.
BarcelonaUkrainian lawyer and former politician Andri Portnov, 52, was shot dead this Wednesday outside the American school in Pozuelo de Alarcón, where he had gone to take his children. The identity of Portnov, who was an advisor to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, has been confirmed by sources from the Spanish Interior Ministry. Initial reports suggested that the crime could be related to revenge.
The victim's lifeless body was found around 9:30 a.m. next to his car, a black luxury vehicle parked near the school, according to the Efe news agency. Official sources confirm that the man was about to get into the car when several people shot him in the back and head and then fled the scene into a wooded area.
Summa 112, the Community of Madrid's emergency medical service, has confirmed the man's death due to the serious injuries he sustained. Officers from the Scientific Police and Homicide Group V went to the crime scene to take charge of the investigation, while several drones and a helicopter are flying over the area to try to locate the alleged perpetrators of the murder.
In a statement, the school itself informed the students' parents that shots had been fired at the school gates earlier in the day, but that all the students were at school and safe. It also confirmed that the man shot was a parent from the school. Two hours after the crime, some families chose to pick up their children.
Who was the murdered man?
Portnov, 52, was a controversial figure in Ukraine. During the Euromaidan uprising, which erupted in 2013 after Yanukovych suspended the association agreement with the European Union, he was implicated in the so-called "dictatorship laws," which restricted freedom of expression and assembly. At least 100 people died in clashes between law enforcement and protesters during the months-long protests.
After the uprising on February 20, 2014, Portnov, his boss Yanukovych, and other senior officials in that administration fled Ukraine to seek refuge in Russia amid mounting pressure from the streets. Between 2014 and 2015, he was subject to European sanctions.
According to several Ukrainian publications, Portnov moved to Vienna. According to the Ukrainian media Hromadske, whom Portnov unsuccessfully sued last year for pointing out his alleged role in Russia's annexation of Crimea, the former Yanukovych advisor murdered in Madrid was one of 18 Ukrainians sanctioned by the EU for corruption and human rights violations. Portnov was, however, removed from that sanctions list a year later by a European court ruling.
In 2018, the Security Service of Ukraine opened legal proceedings against him for treason in connection with his alleged involvement in Russia's seizure of Crimea, as he claimed HromadskePortnov appealed and the case was closed. And it wasn't his only legal victory in Ukraine; he also won another against another Ukrainian media outlet called CensorSome of the journalists Portnov defeated in court implicitly attributed the verdicts to the continued influence he had on judges. Indeed, in 2021, it was the United States that imposed sanctions against him, this time for "credible allegations of using his influence" to corrupt the courts and "undermine efforts to reform" Ukraine.
Unlike other senior officials from the Yanukovych era—such as the former president himself, who has several convictions in absentia in Ukraine—Portnov remained in contact with his homeland, even returning to it after five years in 2019. Earlier this year, he was sought by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, arguing that it made no sense for him to be sanctioned by the US but not by Ukraine.
Last year, Censor published one of the few pieces of information about his life in Spain. According to the outlet, Portnov had used the services of a Madrid notary to certify a power of attorney that he would supposedly use to transfer a luxury villa of over 1,000 square meters located on the banks of the Dnieper River in Ukraine to his children.
