Professional career

Shkil graduated in 1988 from the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University.^[5]

In 1989 Shkil became a member of the editorial board of the newspaper Ukrayina Moloda and he was elected deputy chief of the Independent Ukrainian Youth Union.^[2] From then he fulfilled various journalistic functions as writer and TV-presenter.^[2] In 1997 Skhil graduated from the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv's Department of Journalism.^[2][3][5]

Political career

Shkil took part in the founding meeting of the Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self Defence (UNA-UNSO) in June 1990.^[5]

After having had several executive functions in UNA-UNSO in Lviv, Shkil became the party leader of UNA-UNSO June 2002.^[2][5] Shkil was active in Ukraine without Kuchma.^[2][5] On 21 March 2001 Shkil was arrested on charges of "organizing mass unrest in Kyiv during street demonstrations" and spent 13 months in jail.^[2][5] While in custody, Shkil was elected the People's Deputy of Ukraine during the 2002 parliamentary elections, and as a result was released.^[2][5] Shkil won a single-mandate constituency in the Lviv Oblast (province) and thus a seat in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament),^[6][7] the UNA-UNSO itself won 0,04% of the votes.^[8] In the Verkhovna Rada, Shkil became a member of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc.^[2][5] In 2003 Shkil left UNA-UNSO,^[9] and in March 2005 he became a member of Batkivshchyna.^[5] During the 2006 and 2007 parliamentary elections Shkil was re-elected into the Verkhovna Rada high on the party list of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc.^[1][5]

Shkil is the author of a bill banning abortion which was registered in the Verkhovna Rada at the request of the clergy of the Greek Catholic Church and the Vatican on 12 March 2012.^[10]

Shkil was placed at number 87 on the electoral list of Batkivshchyna during the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election.^[11] He was not re-elected into parliament.^[12] Early 2013 Shkil applied for political asylum in the Czech Republic; Ukrainian authorities claim he is not prosecuted in Ukraine.^[13] Since he came to the Czech Republic on the basis of a French visa Shkil moved to France in May 2013 because the Dublin Regulation stipulates France should deal with his appeal.^[13] In a November 2016 interview with Espreso TV Shkil stated he still resided in France because the criminal case made after his 21 March 2001 arrest was still open.^[4]