Criminal case opened against commandant of tent camp put up during rally on Independence Square

The police have opened a criminal case against Oleh Akhtyrsky, the commandant of the Tax Maidan tent camp that was put up by businessmen protesting against the Tax Code on Independence Square in Kyiv, and placed restrictions on his movements, according to the press service of the Common Business civil movement.

On January 6 at about 1100, during questioning at the investigative department of the main department of Ukraine's Interior Ministry in Kyiv, the police charged Akhtyrsky with committing a crime under part two of Article 24 (a crime committed in collusion with a group of individuals) and part one of Article 194 (deliberate damage to property that entails large-scale losses) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the press service reported.

The press service said that this concerned deliberate damage to the granite pavement on Independence Square during the erecting of tents.

“The Common Business movement believes that such accusations are unreasonable, and they are the reason for repression in relation to the activists of Maidan-2 and a tool of intimidation and demoralization of the active part of society,” reads a statement by the civil movement.

The Common Business movement also called on citizens to participate in a protest event against political persecution. The rally will begin in Kyiv on Bankova Street near the presidential administration on January 17 at 1000.