Crimean anti-corruption fighters are accused of humiliating the dignity of Bulgarians

One of the accused, Dmitry Dzhigalov, is under recognizance not to leave the place, the other, Oleg Semenov, has been under arrest since the fall. The Sudak City Court extended his detention until February.

On January 17, 2018, the Sudak City Court extended until February 20 the period of detention of local activist Oleg Semenov, a member of the public association Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Republic of Crimea.

Oleg Semenov and his colleague in the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Dmitry Dzhigalov, are accused of humiliating the dignity of Bulgarians; on July 20, 2017, a criminal case was opened against them under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code. Dzhigalov is under recognizance not to leave, Semenov was taken under arrest on October 13, 2017 after he left his place of residence on personal matters.

The reason for initiating the case was the publication on Dzhigalov’s YouTube channel of a video he shot about a meeting between members of the Anti-Corruption Bureau and Crimean parliament member Ivan Shonus, one of the fragments of which contains negative statements by Semenov against the Bulgarians. The indictment does not say exactly what statements are being referred to, and the version of the video preserved on Youtube does not contain anything that would fall under Art. 282 CC: Semenov only reproaches the Bulgarians for their ingratitude towards the Russians, who freed them from the “Ottoman yoke”. However, it is quite possible that this version of the video is not complete, since, according to media reports, Semenov was accused of making certain statements about Stalin’s deportation of Crimean Bulgarians. However, we believe that since the activist is not accused of any illegal calls, there was no need for criminal prosecution in this case: we are generally convinced that humiliation should be excluded from the criminal code as an act of minor gravity. In addition, it should be taken into account that this is an isolated case: Semyonov and Dzhigalov are not seen in xenophobic propaganda.

Obviously, the real reason for the persecution of Semenov and Dzhigalov was their social activities: the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s fight against landfills, violations of construction standards, illegal allocation of land for development, etc., including active criticism of local authorities and publication of materials with accusations in corruption, affecting in particular Vladimir Serov, the former mayor of Sudak, who recently took the post of Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Crimea.

Sources

• The court extended the arrest period for the Crimean anti-corruption official // Rosbalt. 2018. January 17.
  
  
• Based on materials from social networks.