Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv satisfied the appeal of the Anti-Corruption Action Center regarding inactivity of the National Police. Police officers impassively observed the attack on AntAC Head of Board during the rally in front of the Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office on July 17, 2018. As result of the attack, Vitaliy Shabunin got chemical burn of both eyes.
AntAC demanded to open the criminal proceeding through the court against law enforcement officers regarding official negligence. They did not take measures to prevent disorders and detain attackers at the rally on July 17 in front of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, the National Police had to open the proceeding within 24 hours after the statement of committing the offense. However, they had not done it.
We should recall that on July 17, the group of young men, dressed in military uniform, attacked AntAC Head of Board Vitaliy Shabunin in front of SAPO and poured green antiseptic into his eyes.
According to medical report of Oleksandrivskyi Hospital, Shabunin had the chemical burn of both eyes.
The attack took place during the provocation, when activists of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, Automaydan and initiative Nebaiduzhi arrived to SAPO to hold the rally regarding the resignation of its head Nazar Kholodnytskyi.
The reason for it was closure of the “case of backpacks” against the son of the Minister of Internal Affairs Oleksandr Avakov and former deputy Minister Serhii Chebotar. Activists brought Kholodnytskyi the backpack with inscription “Pack your stuff and go out”.
The rally was scheduled at 10 a.m. When participants began to gather, they saw counter rally of hundreds of people, aggressive towards activists.
Many of them were dressed in military uniform, their faces were hidden, and some of them were holding cakes, which they threw later into activists.
About 30-40 police officers were observing it. However, they did not even ask who these young men were and why did they come with cakes.
By the way, the counter rally was led by Ilya Kiva, former advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov.
After the incident with green antiseptic and cakes, attackers started to run. And most of them managed to do this. The police did not even try to detain them. It indicates about the evasion of their responsibilities.
The police detained two attackers due to activists’ persistence and released them soon.
Later, it turned out that the National Police lied about submitting administrative protocols regarding people who attacked AntAC Head of Board. They were released even without administrative protocols.