Criminal case against parliamentary candidate over damage to Regions Party property

An Ivano-Frankivsk  court has ordered parliamentary candidate for the single-mandate electoral district No. 86, Petro Shutyak to pay 10 thousand UAH in bail.  Criminal proceedings have been brought against him under Article 296 § 1 of the Criminal Code (hooliganism).  He is accused of having broken a metal-plastic window and damaged the sign to the official of the regional branch and youth organization of the Party of the Regions. The alleged action was on 3 July when the highly contentious language law, effectively giving Russian a much greater role in Ukraine, was passed in its first reading. Mr Shulyak spent 10 days outside Ukraine House in Kyiv on hunger strike in protest at the law.

Petro Shulyak refuses to comment on the charges against him, but says that the investigator has not considered all possible reasons for the damage incurred. He also says that he will not be paying the 10 thousand, and that it is quite unnecessary since he has no intention to abscond.  The court gave him 5 days from 21 August to pay the bail.