The Prosecutor’s Office has closed criminal proceedings against the company Ukrainian’s bussinessman Oleksandr Sokolovskyi for lack of corpus delicti. But now activists are demanding punishment for the prosecutor who put pressure on the businessman, reports [Kommersant] with reference to the press service of the Manifesto 42 group.
“We demand that prosecutor Oleksiy Shapovalov, who opened this scandalous case with signs of corrupt pressure, be brought to justice. We demand that the Office of the Prosecutor General conduct a comprehensive inspection of the Holosiivskyi Prosecutor’s Office in Kyiv, as Sokolovskyi’s case is not the only one that was initiated with the obvious purpose of putting pressure on entrepreneurs. Manifesto 42 is also monitoring the case of Volodymyr Vinnikov, a prosecutor of the same Holosiivskyi District Prosecutor’s Office, who is accused of misappropriating more than UAH 4 million seized during a search in the case against Medinov’s company,” the activists said.
Manifesto 42 added that high-profile cases against entrepreneurs Ihor Mazepa, Serhiy Slyusarenko (Riviera Village), Oleksandr Zapyshnyi (EDS Ukraine), Yuriy Zozulia (X-Park), Dmytro Martynenko (Tyshe Mesto), Oleh Averyanov (Pozhmashyna) and other entrepreneurs are still awaiting the response of the disciplinary bodies of the Prosecutor General’s Office and the closure of the case due to the absence of a crime.
It is worth noting that Manifesto 42 is a public movement created by Ukrainian entrepreneurs to defend Article 42 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which guarantees the right to entrepreneurship.
What is known about the case of Oleksandr Sokolovskyi
In September, Oleksandr Sokolovskyi, co-owner of Textile-Contact, reported pressure from the Holosiivskyi Prosecutor’s Office in Kyiv. The reason for the case was several thousand metres of abandoned buildings of a former pioneer camp on the outskirts of Kyiv on the territory of 10 hectares.
Sokolovskyi claims that the criminal proceedings are more than a year old and the investigation is taking actions aimed at putting pressure on the company and its owners rather than conducting an objective investigation. The company’s owner also said that his director and partner had been imposed preventive measures worth UAH 46 million.
on 20 September, the businessman posted on his Facebook page saidthat the case was closed, and that the suspicions, extortion of bail and seizure of property were declared illegal.
“This is our common victory and I am sincerely grateful to everyone who helped me in this difficult fight. This story shows that together we can defend our rights and achieve justice. This is not just a victory in a particular case, it is an example of how publicity and community support work,” Sokolovskyi wrote.