Horror on the street of volunteers: how the security forces “nightmare” patrons for helping the defenders of Ukraine
Many of the patrons have come under criminal prosecution.
From the first days of a full-scale invasion, volunteers have been at the forefront. At the risk of their own lives, they help the civilian population and the Ukrainian military who are in the combat zone. Volunteers deliver humanitarian supplies and raise funds to purchase items needed at the front, vehicles, military equipment and even first-aid kits. But recently, the practice has been spreading when volunteers are accused of stealing humanitarian aid. Moreover, criminal cases are brought against them, and some volunteers even end up behind bars. The volunteer community claims that law enforcement officers deliberately “nightmare” activists. “Apostrophetells the story of one of the volunteers, Vadim Chemer.
Law like a drawbar
The grounds for initiating criminal cases against volunteers are legislative and regulatory contradictions. Back in March 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted Resolution No. 174, which significantly simplified the import of goods for the military from abroad. In particular, the normative act allows declaring customs goods purchased by volunteers for their own or collected funds on the order of military units as humanitarian aid. This procedure has significantly increased the speed of providing the defenders of Ukraine with everything they need – from clothing to vehicles.
In the same month, the Verkhovna Rada supplemented the Criminal Code of Ukraine with Article No. 201-2 “Illegal use of humanitarian aid, charitable donations or gratuitous aid for profit”. A few days later, law enforcement officers began a large-scale operation to identify and prosecute the “enemies”.
At first, everything was not easy, because most of the volunteers have contracts with military units for the purchase of certain goods and relevant financial documents indicating the purchase of things abroad. Then, as the volunteers say, the security forces began to improvise.
The game of “duck duck”
As volunteers say, the scheme according to which law enforcement officers began to operate can be called a “stool duck”. She works like this.
First, the provocateur enters into the confidence of the volunteers, introducing himself as a representative of a military unit or a confidant of individual fighters. He asks to buy the necessary things, gives money. Over time, when the volunteer no longer has any doubts about the decency of a person, the provocateur begs to sell him goods that have just arrived in Ukraine under the order of military units. He says that his fighters are already going to the front today, and right now they need exactly what the volunteer brought. The person agrees.
Patrons are “nightmare” by the security forces for helping the army
Then the customer transfers the money so that the volunteer can purchase a new similar product for the first addressee. And it was at this moment that handcuffs snapped into the hands of the “criminal”. Then everything is simple: a criminal case is opened on suspicion of trafficking in humanitarian aid, searches of residential and office premises, and warehouses are carried out. The man and his entourage begin to be dragged for interrogation. Property is confiscated as material evidence. Financial accounts and bank cards are blocked. Any other business is also subject to “sanctions”.
A person begins to sue for a long time. And when, finally, it is possible to prove that he did not do anything illegal, it turns out that the confiscated goods, or part of it, have disappeared somewhere. The most common legend is that it was handed over to some military unit as an emergency in wartime.
There are dozens of similar stories, when volunteers are brought to criminal responsibility, and maybe hundreds. Bought publicity of the case – Svyatoslav Litinsky, Oles Dzindra, Oleg Yanitsky, Sergey Tsybulsky, Alexander Yakovenko.
How businessman Chemer helped the army
Recently, volunteer Vadim Chemer got into a similar story. Before the war, the man led a successful entrepreneurial activity. He is the founder of the state of emergency “Chemer”, has a prestigious store in the center of Kyiv selling furniture of the famous Italian brand Domio. In February last year, Vadim decided to help the army. He knows the European markets quite well, what goods and where exactly can be purchased at the lowest prices, he has a clear idea of the shortest logistical routes to Ukraine.
