BEHIND THE ELECTION FUZZ IN UKRAINE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT TAKES REVENGE ON DANUBE BIOSPHERE RESERVE

On November 2 Danube Transport Prosecutors office raided the Danube biosphere reserve office.

At noon 5 policemen heaeded by the Danube Transport Prosecutors office represntative S.Kouznetsov arrived at Danube reserve office. They showed a document about bringing a case against Danube reserve staff. The accusations are misuse of budget funds and abuse of power.(The first question that comes to mind - what the TRANSPORT Prosecutor's office has to do with that?)

After that they took away all documents they could find - not only accounting, but also all incoming and outcoming letters, agreements and papers of the previous revisions. There were also attempts to take away computers.

This raid was taken after dozens of revisions of different level.It is well known that the true cause of such revision activities is position of Alexander Volshkevich, reserve director. He keeps defending his reserve from canal construction impact.

Currently Ukrainian authorities are pretending to listen to EU demands on canal environmental assessment. However, true situation is quite different - construction goes on. Reserve Director tells the truth and demands true monitorng and true assesment of the construction. He has recieved multiple threats, and this raid is aimed to get rid off him.

International Socio-ecological Union, Ukrainian Coalition for Wild Nature condemn this abuse of law. The warn Ukrainian authorities that international community will be aware of the case. Attack on Danube reserve Director will not solve the canal problem. ISEU and UCWN call on international community to support Alexander Voloshkevich.

More information
Olga Zakharova seupress@seu.ru
Sergey Shaparenko pecheneg@ic.kharkov.ua
Vladimir Boreyko kekz@carrier.kiev.ua