A story of how a family clan, represented by officials skillfully placed in the right positions, is taking over what should belong to the local community. The irony is that they rose to power on the presidential party list.
In the village of Petrovka in Mykolaiv Oblast, people are literally fighting for water. Residents say they restored an abandoned well left behind by a state farm back in 2007, using their own resources and funds, and created a self-organized body to handle its maintenance. However, the village council took the well back into municipal ownership and leased it to a utility company in the neighboring village of Krivaya Balka.
Residents of Petrovka believe that local councilors are taking over the well to make money: "They seize it, then service it through their own companies, siphon off the money for the service (also through their own companies), and take the land underneath. Before that, people were servicing it in Petrovka—a cooperative was created, but it was closed retroactively."
Residents of Petrovka have filed a lawsuit, hoping that the court will rule the tender and the seizure of the well illegal. While the case is pending, residents are discussing another scam, clearly involving a family-run business. This involves the seizure of agricultural land reserves, which are soon due for harvest. However, law enforcement officials, having reviewed the documents, say everything is within the law.
The "Interest Team" came to power on the BPP lists
The scandal involves local officials, the Mukharsky brothers, who are brothers. All three are, in one way or another, connected to the presidential party. Two of them were elected to power on the Solidarity party list, and another was an assistant to a BPP MP from the current convocation.
Back in July, residents of the Petrovsky village council sent a collective appeal to President Petro Poroshenko, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, BPP MP David Makaryan, as well as to the BPP party leader in Mykolaiv and presidential adviser Yuriy Biryukov.
In their appeal, residents of the villages of Zeleny Yar, Petrovka, and Karlivka asked for "protection from members of the BPP party, who, through their lawlessness and exploitation of their position and power, have driven them into a corner and are mocking them."
"In our Petrovsky village council, the relatives of I.G. Mukharsky, under the protection of their brother, have taken away water from the people," the appeal states, "for which, at the request of the community and with the direct involvement of concerned deputies in our district, a criminal case has been initiated. They have set rates so high that people are forced to give up their last shirt. With the participation of these individuals, the village budget is being plundered."
However, it's clear the requests were ignored. A month later, on August 10th, a fight broke out during a fight over a well, instigated by Fedor Mukharsky, director of the Mriya municipal enterprise (from the village of Krivaya Balka). The attackers used bats and even broken bottles. Four residents of Petrovka were injured, three of whom were hospitalized with serious injuries.
Family row
Briefly about each
Local residents say that as part of the village consolidation program, plans are to elect one village council chairperson for five or six villages, while the remaining villages will have only village elders. Leonid Mukharsky, the head of the village council from Krivaya Balka, intends to run for the position of community head. He currently wields influence over the local authorities in the village of Petrovka.
Fedor Mukharsky is the head of the Mriya municipal enterprise, registered in the Krivobalkovsky village council.
From December 4, 2014, to December 12, 2015, Igor Mukharsky was an assistant to David Makaryan, a BPP MP. He and his wife have extensive experience and connections in the land department. While still a candidate for the Mykolaiv District Council from the BPP, Igor Georgievich listed his place of employment as "Deputy Director of KonturZem," a private enterprise run by his wife, Oksana Mukharskaya.
PP "Kontur Zem" prepares technical documentation for land plots, is engaged in the establishment of boundaries, privatization of land plots, and the preparation of state acts for land plots.
They have already been accused of seizing agricultural land from the reserve. These include two fields—25,6 hectares and approximately 60 hectares—near the well in Petrovka.
"The plan was to allocate the reserve lands to villagers or, say, build houses on them. For example, there are several fields near the village, near the road, planted with sunflowers. Although they are officially listed as reserve lands, they haven't been allocated. It's the same people doing it. It's arbitrary—they snatch up whatever they can, whatever they see," complain residents of Petrovka.
However, the police checked the documents and said that everything was legal.
"We went to the scene, and a criminal case was opened for illegal land seizure. However, when we checked the documentation of the person who drove the combine harvester and mowed the field, we found that he had a loss statement. This means that before mowing, they contacted the district state administration and drew up mutual statements stating that they were to pay six percent in taxes to the state budget. Therefore, we cannot have any claims against them. Because if a loss statement is drawn up and partially paid, there is no criminal offense," Major Alexey Spiridonov, head of the Mykolaiv District Police Department of the Ochakiv Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police of Mykolaiv Oblast, told Nadzvichiye Novyny.
Svetlana Tsinakovskaya has no connection to the Mukharsky family, yet she is considered a puppet. For example, during an interview with a local newspaper, Leonid Mukharsky, posing as the village mayor's legal advisor, answered questions instead of Tsinakovskaya. Fedor Mukharsky, head of the Mriya municipal enterprise, also showed up at the editorial office.
Locals say the current head of the Petrovsky village council is the former secretary of the former collective farm chairman. When he was promoted, the secretary was simply appointed in his place.
Local media bought
In the brawl involving bats and broken bottles, most of the Mykolaiv press blamed the Petrovtsy residents. The narrative is constructed in such a way that either the Mukharskys are the victims, or the conflict arose between residents of neighboring villages (Petrovtsy and Krivaya Balka), and the officials are not involved.
Nikolaevsky District Council deputy Sergei Protchenko is obviously an interested party, since he owns his own business in Krivaya Balka.
Position of the Regional State Administration and the Regional State Administration
Residents of Petrovka are hoping for a fair court decision because they have no recourse in higher-level government agencies.
Mykolaiv District State Administration Chairperson Alla Vorobyeva has not taken sides in the conflict and believes the situation should be resolved according to the law. That is, a court should render a verdict.
"She saw that the tender was held backdated, illegally. No one asked the villagers anything. And she wants the court to sort this out. So do the police. They rightly arrested the instigator of the fight, who personally beat up children and women. No one showed up to the protest in Krivaya Balka. Relatives came out, saying, 'Look at the police brutality, they arrested and beat up our chairman.' In reality, he arrived on a bus with thugs," the Petrovsk residents say.
In the Nikolaev regional state administration itself, there is currently no one to deal with people's problems.
As is known, in early June 2016, law enforcement officers detained a group of officials led by the first deputy chairman of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, Mykola Romanchuk, under whose house a network of tunnels and safes containing valuables were found.
Following the scandal, on June 29, the president dismissed Vadym Merikov, head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration. On August 9, Petro Poroshenko announced a competition for the position of head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration. Deputy Vyacheslav Bon is serving as acting governor.
Residents of Petrovka say they had previously approached Merikov, but he took a non-interventionist stance.
"Because all these deputies were partially connected. Everything follows the same chain: they jointly owned land, and so on. Now the government is in complete disarray," local residents complain.
Police officers paid the price for not taking the side of usurping officials.
An internal investigation is underway against the police officers who took on the task of establishing the circumstances of the mass brawl on August 10th. This appears to be a form of revenge for the police temporarily "locking up" Fyodor Mukharsky.
This video shows Nikolaevsky District Council deputy Sergei Protchenko attempting to rescue an official from the district police station. However, it wasn't immediately clear whether he had come to rescue Fyodor Georgievich or Leonid Georgievich.
Subsequently, Fyodor Mukharsky was released because his health had sharply deteriorated.
"The doctors said no investigative actions could be taken against him. We missed the deadlines stipulated by the Criminal Procedure Code because he was so ill. By law, we should have released him—we didn't arrest him; he got away with a hospital stay," says Police Major Alexei Spiridonov.
The Petrovtsy still believe that the police conducted an objective investigation, which means they crossed the Mukharskys.
"I understand they want to remove me. I'm somewhat of an objectionable figure—I have a principled position: people were beaten up—they need to be held accountable. There's political friction going on here. They're trying to sling mud," Spiridonov says.
"A case was opened under Article 296, Part 4 (hooliganism). All parties were questioned. Based on the victims' statements and after identification, at least five more people were identified—those who carried out the beatings: the village mayor, Leonid Mukharsky; his brother, Fedor Mukharsky; Medvedenko; Amans (an active member of the Mykolaiv Oblast State Security Service); and Tsakhnyuk," said Alexey Spiridonov.
This case has now been transferred to the regional prosecutor's office.
"Because we don't have the right to prosecute active police officers. We've handed the case over, and investigators from the regional prosecutor's office are currently conducting a pre-trial investigation," explains the police major.
Read more about the conflict in the article "Officials in Mykolaiv Oblast use bats to protect a drinking water well (video)."
"Nadzvichainі novyny" continues to monitor events in the region.
Olga Chernyavskaya, "Nadzvichayny news"
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