A criminal case, perhaps under the article on illegal seizures, will be opened regarding the seizure of Broadcasting, Radiocommunications & Television Concern (BRT Concern), an advisor to the Ukrainian interior minister, Anton Heraschenko, said at a briefing on Sept. 29.
‘A lot of evidence shows that the article on illegal seizures could apply. There is an opinion that this is linked to the [parliament] elections. The investigators are working,’ he said.
BRT Director General Oleksandr Pivniuk said that a paid rally of supporters of the former head of BRT was held near the walls of the concern. Pivniuk links the actions of the former head with the election campaign. He said that Serhiy Liovochkin ordered the said events.
Earlier on Sept. 29 Pivniuk said that the central office of BRT was illegally seized by its former director general, Kostiantyn Zakharenko.
He said that Zakharenko rushed into the company, breaking the doors, jointly with people who earlier worked in the company and unknown persons. The former director presented a ruling of Telmanove district court of Donetsk region on the cancellation of the decision of the government on his dismissal and the appointment of Pivniuk to the post. Pivniuk added that Telmanove district center today is not under control of Ukrainian authorities.
As reported, in April 2014 the government replaced the director general of the concern, dismissing Zakharenko and appointing Pivniuk. After the dismissal of the previous top managers an initiative group of employees of the concern’s administration supported the previous managers. The group named itself the council of the trade union of the BRT’s administration. They accused the top managers of the concern and the State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection of Ukraine in helping slef-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, in particular, in financing of electricity supplies to the concern’s facilities, which were seized in Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
