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The Tribunal for Putin (T4P) global initiative was set up in response to the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.

Volodymyr Kadura, Another Unlikely Rabble-rouser (updated)

17.12.2013   
Halya Coynash
A Kyiv court has rejected the appeal lodged by Kadura, a businessman and activist of the AutoMaidan protests, against his two month detention. Kadura was arrested together with well-known Road Control journalist Andriy Dzyndzya on charges which arouse deep scepticism.

   

On Dec 17 the Kyiv Court of Appeal rejected the appeal lodged by Volodymyr Kadura against a 2-month detention order.  Kadura is a businessman and activist of the AutoMaidan protests (car drivers in support of EuroMaidan) and was arrested together with well-known Road Control journalist Andriy Dzyndzya on charges which arouse deep scepticism.

The arrests which followed the Dec 1 disturbances on Bankova St have only fuelled the suspicion that the commandeering of a bulldozer and aggressive behaviour by a crowd of young largely masked louts were an orchestrated stunt.  Despite the fact that notorious provocateur and leader of “Bratstvo”, Dmytro Korchynsky can be seen on video footage near the bulldozer, no attempt was made to detain him.  He was only placed on the international wanted list after outcry over arrests which seemed to target journalists and peaceful protesters.   

On Dec. 6 Kadura and Dzyndzya were remanded in custody for 2 months.  They are apparently accused of having been behind the actions by a crowd of masked young men who seized a bulldozer, drove it to Bankova St where it was used in an apparent attempt to break through a cordon of interior forces officers around the president’s administration.  The charges seems to be of attacking Berkut riot police, although it is clear from the video footage that the men who came under attack were not, in fact, Berkut officers, but interior ministry troops - largely young conscripts.  There was indeed a bulldozer however there is ample video footage of it being seized and its movement towards Bankova St and no reason to believe that either Dzyndzya or Kadura were implicated.  The two are not believed to have been acquainted, although they undoubtedly share one thing in common: both Dzyndzya’s work as a journalist for Road Control which exposes infringements by the traffic police and Kadura’s AutoMaidan activities are likely to have annoyed the police.

Both men were arrested with procedural infringements and with suspicious secrecy.  Kadura’s wife, Yulia Gress says that her husband was arrested on the same day as Dzyndzya and taken to the Department for Fighting Organized Crime.  As reported, the police secrecy that evening and refusal to allow lawyers to see the men known to be detained led to a large number of EuroMaidan protesters gathering, concerned that the men might have been beaten up.   Nothing was known of Kadura’s arrest until the court remanded him for 2 months the following day. 

His wife asserts that lawyers have not been allowed to see him and that she has not been informed how he was detained and where his car is, together with personal items.  She also says that their flat was searched in her absence, and that a search was also carried out of his parents’ flat. As far as she is aware, no criminal case has in fact been initiated against her husband, and yet the court chose the harshest possible preventive measure – 60 days in custody.  There has been enormous secrecy forcing one to conclude that those initiating these proceedings have something to hide.  

This is not the only case which arouses great concern.  Please see the following:

Panas, Dzyndzya, Smaliy: Message Received. What now?

Bankova Prisoners release from custody - welcome but insufficient (updated)

More information about the excessive use of force by riot police on Dec 1 and reasons for suspecting that the disturbances were planned provocation can be found at:

Bankova Prisoners: Anyone will do? and Unconcealed Provocation

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