Uncle Viti's case

The Case

When fighting broke out near Dymerka in March 2022, the Ukrainian Volunteer Army (UVA) fighter Viktor Mazur was detained by law enforcement officers: his weapon was confiscated and taken to the police station. Instead of gratitude for protecting the capital, criminal prosecution has been ongoing for two years under Art. 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal possession of weapons). He did not serve in the army and has been “discharged” for health reasons for 20 years. He went to the East during the Revolution of Dignity, and on the eve of the full-scale invasion, he returned from abroad to Ukraine to defend the state together with his comrades. 

Foreign intelligence and senior officials from NATO countries a few months before a full-scale offensive warned Ukrainian leadership through direct contacts and "showers" through the media. However, this was not enough to prepare the country for defense. Volunteer units and caring Ukrainians who had combat experience rallied to resist the possible escalation of Russian aggression. Among them was the UDA fighter Viktor Mazur. Having left his family abroad, a few days before February 24, he arrived in his native Dymerka.

“It’s been ten years of war, from Maidan as part of the Right Sector I went straight to Pisky. Together with the 93rd brigade we carried out combat missions. We thought they wouldn’t reach here, because they had almost reached the Dnieper. Then in March 2022, there were already Muscovites, Buryats, 7-8 kilometers from my house. All this evil was already in Dymerka. I wasn’t even going to leave anywhere — I came back specifically to defend.” — says Viktor Oleksandrovych. 

There is a fighting spirit in the air, a constant sound of alarm, and in the capital of Ukraine on the evening of February 24, volunteers are massively arming themselves, ready to defend the city from invaders:

“We have urban territorial defense, which is part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a separate branch of the armed forces. And there is a second component – civil-military defense, these are volunteer formations of territorial communities. In Kyiv, in just the last few hours, about 10 thousand assault rifles have been issued to members of volunteer formations of territorial communities.” — shares in the commentary of Ukrainy Pravda, the president's representative in the Constitutional Court, Fedir Venislavsky. The same information confirms the then Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrsky.

Viktor, like tens of thousands of other citizens, receives firearms without any registration or documentary confirmation. He tries to join the defense of Irpin and Bucha, but receives an order from the command to defend the Chernihiv direction. 

“The information about the offensive was there and the longest was the wait. We gathered as one, worked under our command, our command with the Armed Forces. In the situation as then: no police anywhere, nothing on the streets. It turned out that they were handing out weapons from KamAZ trucks in Obolon. As a citizen, I received them, but they were issued without records, without any documents. There was an incident where the police stopped and took away the weapons. But at the same time, Dymerka was already occupied and the Russians continued to advance. There was very little distance left to Brovary. It turned out unfairly: I was defending, and they were “shooting” my own people in the back,” Viktor recalls the first weeks of the capital’s defense. 

Then, on March 18, the volunteer was detained for 24 hours at the Brovary District Police Department and released only after the arrival of lawyers.  

“To be honest, the mood was not so combative anymore. But I knew that I had to continue defending myself. The investigator said: it’s okay, because martial law is in effect now. But after that, a summons came to court. The trial has only recently begun in the Brovarskyi district court,” says Viktor.

For more than two years, the Ukrainian defender has been charged under the shameful Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which law enforcement officers cynically use as official indicators to obtain higher pensions and bonuses. After all, possession of weapons is still considered a serious crime, punishable by imprisonment. Because of the desire to earn an easy and quick “indicator” of their law enforcement activities, tens of thousands of caring Ukrainians, volunteers, and veterans are at risk of ending up behind bars today. 

“Our neighbor is Muscovy. The regulation of weapons should be simpler so that Ukrainians have the opportunity to defend themselves in the event of an enemy attack. If the peasants, who were the first to suffer from aggression, had weapons, they would have “dampened” them more effectively. It would be much easier for them with weapons. People should also help the front, open production workshops. But without this bureaucracy, when you have to run around mental hospitals, “Soviet Security” for information. The war is not over yet, so people keep weapons with them. We have a shortage of ammunition and a second time (God forbid) no one will be able to hand out machine guns on the streets. And in general, 80% law enforcement officers are not needed here. They are trained and would go to defend the state. But their mothers did not give birth to them to go to war.” — concludes the volunteer.

Decriminalization of weapons production and possession has been long overdue since the first days of the Russian-Ukrainian war. However, for 11 years now, law enforcement agencies have been comfortable “chasing” volunteers in search of “three cartridges.” Human rights activists and the public are demanding to get rid of the Damocles’ sword of criminal liability, to allow the defense forces to support production and to keep weapons for self-defense. Appropriate project law #ZP11073 is under consideration by the Law Enforcement Committee of the Verkhovna Rada. The people's deputies will have a choice: to support the people's right to defend themselves and their state or to allow further arbitrariness by law enforcement agencies.