Kurt Groszhans
FARGO (KFGO) – A North Dakota farmer who was imprisoned in Ukraine, accused of ordering the assassination of a government official, has been home for over a year and a half. One of many questions that hasn’t been answered publicly is – how did he get home?
In an exclusive interview with KFGO News, Kurt Groszhans detailed how he was able to make his way from being imprisoned in Ukraine to his home in Ashley.
Groszhans was arrested in Kyiv in November 2021.
The Ukrainian government said he ordered the assassination of Roman Leschenko, the country’s agriculture minister at the time.
Groszhans says he was arrested after accusing Leschenko of embezzlement and corruption. Groszhans had hired Leschenko as a director of a business he owned in Ukraine. During Leschenko’s time as director, Groszhans said Leschenko funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the business Groszhans owned to a business Leschenko owned.
After Groszhans discovered the embezzlement, he said he went public to let people know what the country’s new ag minister under recently-elected President Volodymyr Zelensky was involved in. Soon after that, Groszhans was arrested.
Groszhans spent months in Ukrainian prisons, detained for his alleged crimes in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and a Russian invasion and subsequent war.
Every two months, Groszhans appeared before a judge. In April of 2022, he was released on bail under the condition he didn’t leave the country for 60 days and appear when called. Groszhans said just before the 60 days were up, the court would call him in to renew the conditions for another 60 days.
This went on for months, until one day in September when Groszhans said he showed up to court to find no judge and no prosecutor.
“The judge had COVID and the prosecutor had COVID. So, there was no court,” Groszhans said. “There was, like, four days left until those previous 60 days were up. That day, they determined that the next court hearing would be in two months. So, there was two months where there was no restrictions on me. I could do anything I wanted. During that two month period, the U.S. did issue a notice for all Americans in Ukraine to exit the country.”
The war between Russia and Ukraine was well underway by that time. Groszhans said he followed the United States government’s advice and he exited the country.
“We took a bus to (Warsaw) Poland. I took a plane from Warsaw to Amsterdam, and then caught a flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis,” Groszhans said.
From Minneapolis, Groszhans flew to Fargo where he was met by his family on Oct. 20, 2022 – his 51st birthday.
“At the end, there was nothing dramatic, nothing fancy,” Groszhans said. “Technically, we did everything legally.”
Groszhans said he doesn’t know all the details, but does sometimes wonder why the judge and prosecutor were out the day he was called to court.
“You know, how governments operate, sometimes they are very quiet about what they do,” Groszhans said. “There’s no guarantee that the day that everybody had COVID…we don’t know if people did have COVID, or did somebody get told they’re going to have COVID that day? Sometimes, when things aren’t on the up and up, countries allow each other an off ramp. Some days, I think that’s what might have taken place in this case; where they said, ‘well, we know this isn’t right, but how do we get out of it? Can we create this gray area where if the person takes advantage of it, problem solved. If not, then we just keep going on.’”
While he doesn’t know what went on behind the scenes by people trying to get him home, Groszhans said he is thankful to everyone who did anything to help.
“I know there’s certain things that people did that I’m not aware of. Even my sisters said they haven’t told me everything they’ve done,” Groszhans said. “At this point, I’m not sure that I want to know what everybody did because it’s just… it’s really mind boggling how much people who you don’t know step up in the fight for you – who do things for you that there’s no way to ever repay them other than to say ‘thank you.’”
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