“The claims can be easily refuted by financial statements of AntAC, which are regularly reported to the State Fiscal Service and donor organizations. Moreover, AntAC undergoes annual financial audit and publishes reports about its activities and funding,” says the statement.They are also confident that the whole campaign is directed at closing the NGO.
“The presentation of such a movie in parliament constitutes political persecution of AntAC and its members who vocal critics of the authorities. Its only purpose is to discredit the AntAC and to justify future attacks of tax and law enforcement authorities on the organization,” is written in the statement.This isn’t the first time representatives of the Anti-Corruption Action Center had complained of political persecution by the state. In March 2016, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal investigation against the NGO for alleged embezzlement of US Embassy funds, which was closed after the embassy issued an official statement. Representatives of the Center are confident that their latest misfortunes are caused by their lawsuit against the Security Services [SBU] of Ukraine, in which the NGO sued the SBU employees for not declaring their assets to the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NAZK) as required by Ukraine’s new anti-corruption laws on e-declarations, but reporting about it to their own closed database. The representatives of the NGO considered these actions illegal. The retribution for the lawsuit was soon to come. A fake protest organized near the house of Vitaliy Shabunin on 9 April 2017. The anti-corruption activist himself stated that the protest was organized by the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU) and the deputy head of it Pavlo Demchyna in particular. The SBU refuted any involvement in organizing the fake protest. However soon journalists of Radio Svoboda published detailed proof that indeed the SBU supervised the protests from the very beginning. Another case of the persecution of the NGO activists took place in May 2017 just after the court hearing on the case of the Anti-Corruption Action Center against SBU regarding their declarations took place. Oleksandra Ustinova complained that the SBU employees came to her house when she and her boyfriend were supposed to be at work. As Ustinova told, the unexpected guests were going to shoot their fake documentary to discredit the Anti-Corruption Action Center. However, that day the boyfriend of the activist was ill and stayed at home. He heard some noise in the building and came out to ask the supposed SBU employees what they were looking for. After this, they ran away. Ustinova published photos and a video of the incident.
Read more: Ukraine’s Security Services at a crossroads: to cover the authorities or to protect the people
The state’s fight against anti-corruption NGOs activated this year. On March 27, President Petro Poroshenko signed the bill on Amendments to the Law of Ukraine on Prevention of Corruption. According to it, anti-corruption NGOs and their contractors, candidates for the positions of deputies of the Parliament of local councils, or the president, and civil activists who fight corruption should submit e-declarations on their property and income. The e-declarations are similar to those which the state officials submit, and those failing to submit them would face criminal responsibility. All the above-mentioned persons will be obliged to declare their property in 2018. This step was considered to be political persecution of the anti-corruption activists and condemned by the international community.
