The police central investigation department has asked
the enterprise in charge of minibus No. 527 (marshrutka or a fixed route minivan
taxi) to provide information about losses incurred during the EuroMaidan
protests.

The director of the limited liability company VNT-1,
Anatoliy Loy informed Ukrainska Pravda that
they had received the request from the police on Jan 8, and were preparing
their response. He says that the losses were not major.  “There’s noone to
complain about or to”, he added. Loi denied that workings from VNT-1 had called
on minibus driviers to fight EuroMaidan and seek its dispersal.  He said
that this information had been spread by one person – Andriy Romantsev – who
was pretending to speak for others.

While this particular company is unlikely to oblige,
there may well have been similar approaches to other businesses, etc. 

Much the same tactics were applied three years ago
after the authorities forcibly removed the Tax Code Maidan peaceful
protesters.  Police positively encouraged drivers to make complaints about
alleged damage to their cars, and TV “24” was asked to hand over video and
photographic material. 

This all resulted in some highly suspect
prosecutions
.  One man was held in detention for a long
time over alleged damage to a car, although the video footage showed him at a
distance from the car and calling on others to not damage it.  Others
faced charges of “damaging the granite stone on Maidan Nezalezhnosti”

 Halya Coynash is a member of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group.