волонтери - Правотворець

In March 2022, Vitaliy Kukol, a resident of the village of Kamyanka, Sumy region, remained in the community when the front was rapidly approaching the Trostyanets district. At a time when local authorities and law enforcement officers were evacuating, Kukol organized the mining of the road, helped with the evacuation of civilians, and passed intelligence to the Ukrainian military. He acted as best he could. In the absence of state support, he made homemade weapons. He kept them as a means of defense.

However, two years later, the state put the defense attorney on trial, not the criminal.

On May 15, 2025, the Konotop City District Court found Vitaliy Kukol guilty of illegal possession of homemade weapons and explosives (Part 1 of Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Judge Oleksandr Ohienko sentenced him to three years in prison, releasing him on probation for 1 year.

Despite the fact that the court established:

Weapons were manufactured and stored for one purpose only — defend the village from the Russian invasion.
The weapons were not used against civilians, was not the instrument of the crime, but on the contrary - an instrument of resistance.
There was no harm, threat, or even suspicion of its use for a crime.
Moreover, it is a homemade muzzle-loading weapon, technically less dangerous than legal hunting, which is sold freely.

— Vitaliy Kukol's actions are qualified as a crime. And this is a warning signal.

Bar Association OK Legal, co-founders of Pravotvorets, took on the defense of Vitaliy. An appeal will be filed in the near future. The lawyers insist:
🔻 Kukol made weapons under conditions of de facto occupation, to defend his community;
🔻 The court partially recognized these circumstances, but interpreted the duration of martial law in a contradictory manner;
🔻 criminal prosecution in such cases is undermining confidence in the national resistance.

Kukol's case should be considered in a broader context. Law No. 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal handling of weapons) does not take into account the conditions in which many Ukrainians in 2022 were forced to act without orders, without access to legal weapons. Vitaliy was no exception - he was a systemic part of the public resistance to the aggressor.

❗ The existence of a criminal penalty for possession of homemade weapons in wartime is a disgrace to the law enforcement and judicial system, not justice.

Decriminalization is the need of the hour

The response to such cases should be bill No. 11073, which provides for: the abolition of criminal liability for possession or manufacture of weapons without criminal intent; the transfer of such cases to the sphere of administrative law; the preservation of criminal liability only for actions with criminal intent.

However, the document has been blocked in the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement for over a year. Despite public support, there is no political will to admit that self-defense in wartime is not a crime.

We demand:

overturning Kukol's sentence;
decriminalization of peaceful possession and production of weapons without criminal intent;
public audit of such cases.

On July 20, 2016, a Belarusian and a Russian journalist were killed in the center of Kyiv. On July 12, 2016, a Belarusian and a Russian journalist were killed in the center of Kyiv. Pavel Sheremet. He was blown up in his own car. At that time, he worked in Ukraine in the publication "Ukrainian Pravda".

On December 12, 2019, during a joint briefing with the participation of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov, and Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka, it was announced that "the alleged organizers and perpetrators" of this high-profile murder have been found.

The culprits were a musician, a sergeant of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war Andrii Antonenko (pseudo Riffmaster), pediatric heart surgeon, volunteer Yulia Kuzmenko and a military doctor Yana Dugar. They are accused, without evidence, of intentional murder (Article 115 of the Criminal Code) and illegal handling of weapons, ammunition or explosives (Article 263 of the Criminal Code).

The main evidence of the investigation is the portrait and psychological examination of KNDISE specialists, which was carried out according to scientifically unsubstantiated and unregistered methods. Because of this, the Ministry of Justice brought the experts to justice, and Serhiy Zuzak, a former member of the group of prosecutors in this case, recognized the expertise as "doubtful and insufficient evidence to send the case to court."

Andriy Antonenko was behind bars for 505 days, now under house arrest. Julia Kuzmenko – was behind bars for 244 days, later under night house arrest, Yana Dugar - under bail.

Yulia Kuzmenko spent 8 months behind bars and a year under 24-hour house arrest due to persecution in the "Sheremet case". After the preventive measure was changed to night house arrest, we talked with Yulia - see u video.

January 24, 2024 Shevchenkivskiy District Court of the city of Kyiv stopped the proceedings in the case on the indictment of Andrii Antonenko, Yulia Kuzmenko, and Yana Dugar in connection with Yana's military service.

The case is against veterans of the "Azov" regiment Serhiy Tamarin, Yuriy Kaplyu and Oleksandr Demydov.

On March 12, 2020, veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war disrupted the event of the then adviser to the Secretary of the National Security Council Serhiy Sivoho under the name "National Platform of Reconciliation and Unity" and expelled him from the "Parkovy" KEC. When leaving the hall, during the incident Sivoho lost his balance and ended up on the floor. Veterans of the "Azov" regiment were accused of this Serhiy Tamarin, Yuriy Kaplyu and Oleksandr Demydov.

They are suspected of hooliganism under part 4 of Art. 296 of the Criminal Code (Actions provided for by parts one, two or three of this article, if they are committed with the use of firearms or cold weapons or other objects specially adapted or prepared in advance for inflicting bodily harm). Azov veterans face up to 5 years in prison.

On March 13, preventive measures were chosen for the detainees: Volkova - 24-hour house arrest, Tamarin and Kapla - personal commitment.

The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv postponed consideration of the merits of the case until January 21.

In addition, the war veterans also sent a notification to the Security Service of Ukraine about the commission of treason by Sivokha, as he initiated the collaborative action. According to the activists, any attempts to "establish a dialogue" with representatives of the occupation administrations and persons who contribute to the illegal occupation of the territory of Ukraine are treason.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE PERSECUTION:

03/12/2020: recognition

In the case file, there is an identification protocol, according to which the photo of one of the persons involved in the case - Serhiy Tamarin, is against the wall of the district department, and next to it are portraits of Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake

03/13/20: selection of preventive measure.

Serhiy Tamarin and Yury Kapli were given preventive measure in the form of a personal commitment, and Oleksandr Demidov - house arrest for one month.

12.06.2020: preparatory court session

At the meeting, the lawyers filed a motion to close the case and return the indictment to the prosecutor. The court refused.

07/29/2020: second court session

At the meeting, the lawyer announced the recusal of the judge. On the same 29.07.2020, another judge, without summoning the prosecution, held a meeting in which he refused to challenge the judge.

09/29/2020: announcement of the indictment

The prosecutor announced the indictment, the lawyer announced the opening speech of the defense. The accused pleaded not guilty. The procedure for examining the evidence was determined. First, written evidence (protocols, reports) should be studied.

04-05.11.2020: fourth court session

Court sessions did not take place due to the illness of Oleksandr Demydov and Serhiy Tamarin

A meeting is scheduled for November 20, 2020

The state is being destroyed from the inside by fabricating cases of volunteer entrepreneurs, drawing up criminal proceedings, exerting pressure on the court, unjustifiably throwing IPSO specialists, veterans and volunteers behind bars.

Unfortunately, on the 10th year of the war, the 3rd year of the invasion, the prosecutor's office and National Police investigators have to explain in court that harming Russians in any way is not a crime. Ukrainian business, an ordinary advertising agency becomes a target for regular law enforcement machinations.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian advertising agency, which specializes in promotion in social networks and Google, has joined in helping to distribute materials on the territory of the Russian Federation as part of information and psychological operations (IPSO). In particular, about the crimes of the Russian troops against the civilian population, the losses of Russians as a result of the war and calls to boycott mobilization in the Russian army and go to rallies, undermining trust in the command and leadership of the aggressor state. Including helping with the collection of contacts of citizens of the aggressor country in the format of phishing and scams. With a logical purpose — the assignment of financial losses.

For more than a year and a half, the boys were "sewn" with fraud, however, after numerous interrogations and searches, neither evidence nor victims were found. Requalified for 111 KKU. It seems that imposing financial losses on the citizens of the Russian Federation is a detriment to the national security of Ukraine.
*T.z. According to prosecutors, Russia's support consisted of paying for phishing ads on Yandex.

The main executors of the case, investigator Yevhenii Polupan and prosecutor Andrian Lupu, and their leaders Maksym Tsutskiridze and Ihor Mustetsa care about the national security of which country? Why do they protect Russian citizens and block the work of Ukrainian businesses that voluntarily help to cause harm to the country of the aggressor?

The advertising agency in question supported the Armed Forces for more than 12 million hryvnias, helped to undermine the trust in the leadership of the Russian Federation and caused damage to the occupiers.

Renewal:

Judge Busyk refused the prosecutor Lupa to apply a preventive measure of detention in relation to two Ukrainian IPSO specialists Dmytro Tymoshinets and Yaroslav Bystryanin. On June 5, 2024, the preventive measure of Ukrainian IPSO specialists was changed from house arrest to personal obligations. The extension of the preventive measure was considered by judge Mykhailo Yushkov, temporarily seconded by the High Council of Justice to the Pechersk District Court.

This may indicate that the court did not see any state treason in the materials fabricated by the Main Investigation Department.

Today, the enemy has accumulated numerous resources and is trying to advance as far as possible. The popular resistance, which defeated the occupier two years ago, is defenseless against the threat of imprisonment for possession of weapons. Or for the production of ammunition, which is what dedicated volunteers do to support the army in conditions of lack of weapons.

After two years of full-scale invasion, the issue of the exercise of the right to self-defense still remains unresolved. And citizens may face criminal prosecution for peaceful possession of self-defense weapons.

According to society's request, the VRU has already submitted a draft law (No. 11073 dated 11.03.2024) on ensuring the unity of norms in the exercise of the right to self-defense and decriminalization of weapons production.

Draft law regarding ensuring the unity of norms in the exercise of the right to self-defense and decriminalization of weapons production was presented to press conference "Self-defense is not a crime." People's deputies Oleksandra Ustinova and Andriy Sharaskin, human rights defenders Mykola Orehovskyi and Vitaly Kolomiets, representatives of the arms manufacturer Yaroslav and Ihor Garik took part in the event.

Exercising the right to self-defense today can lead to imprisonment for up to 7 years. Instead of imprisonment for owning a gun or assembling an FPV drone at home for the Armed Forces without a license, the initiators of the draft law propose establishing administrative liability. Therefore, gun owners will have to pay a fine from 50 to 150 of the tax-free minimum income of citizens (960 to 2280 hryvnias), and manufacturers - from 17 thousand hryvnias to 34 thousand hryvnias, with confiscation of the objects of the offense and income from activity.

"The draft law will create conditions for the independence of our state in the production of ammunition and will not allow punishing the military. Today, military personnel are the first to support the relevant changes. After achieving success in our defense, the first targets for police indicators will be the military, that is, people with access to weapons. A person can, without malicious intent, forget to put some ammunition out of the car and he will be detained, criminal proceedings will be issued for 3 to 7 years. Article 263-1 of the Criminal Code was introduced during Yanukovych's time. More than 5,000 such criminal proceedings are huge costs for the state, resources for investigations, the prosecutor's office, investigative actions of the police or SBU, and the workload of judges. Instead, it would be more effective to use these resources to document Russia's war crimes." — shares the head of the Glory UA charity fund and the initiator petitions regarding the removal of obstacles to the production of ammunition for the Armed Forces Mykola Orekhovskyi.

Investigations into the possession of weapons and their unlicensed production do not provide a law enforcement function, since they are always carried out formally, without establishing a criminal intent to produce or handle weapons. In addition, they are duplicated in the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses (Articles 164 and 190). Their exclusion from the Criminal Code will not lead to impunity for handling weapons (for this, the Code provides for other articles - Articles 201, 262, 410 and others).

The draft law on amendments to the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses and the Criminal Code of Ukraine on ensuring the unity of norms in the exercise of the right to self-defense and decriminalization of weapons production has already been sent to the Committee on Law Enforcement.

For more than half a year, the draft law #zp11073 has been "hanging" under consideration of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada. Despite the public outcry, constant persecution of the military, volunteers, volunteers, and arms manufacturers, there is a lack of political will to support the military by decriminalizing the production and storage of weapons.