The case of female postman Oksana Kuramshyna, accused of an attempt on Ukraine’s territorial integrity (Article 110 Part 1 of the Criminal Code) and facing up to 5 years in prison with confiscation of property, has been sent to court, Legal Control has reported.
According to Oksana Kuramshyna’s defence lawyer Andrey Gozhiy, the prosecution launched under President Petro Poroshenko over the “attempt on the territorial integrity of Ukraine” for a simple repost in a social network continues under President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
An investigation team consisting of seven people and headed by a lieutenant colonel of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kyiv and Kyiv region with operational support of the Department of Counterintelligence Protection of State Interests in the Field of Information Security (Department 3) of the SBU Central Office has found a “repost” with an appeal “not to be Poroshenko’s slaves…” on one of the VKontakte web pages and opened criminal proceedings under Article 109 Part 2 of the Criminal Code (seizure of power) and Article 110 Part 1 of the Criminal Code (separatism).
The charges were brought against a woman, Oksana Kuramshina, born in 1971, who works as a postal worker. For a single repost of material that she is not the author of, in which the author (possible provocateur of special services) can make changes “retroactively”, she was charged with a crime against the national security of Ukraine.
This crime was investigated and solved by the SBU Central Apparatus and the SBU Main Directorate for Kyiv and Kyiv Region under the procedural supervision of the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office.
Moreover, reposting on a network that is illegal in Ukraine cannot be considered a crime in principle – Article 11 Part 2 of the Criminal Code (an act of little significance).
The Security Service of Ukraine should deal with the security of Ukraine. Have they already caught all the bribe-takers? Let us take the chief now, simply drive outside Kiev and see where land grabs are, where palaces are in the water protection zone, where enterprises have been “squeezed out”! Corruption in this country is visible at every step. That is what we have to deal with! They found the postwoman who has no one to stand up for her, no people’s deputy is coming to bail her out, no grant-granting organizations are coming to defend her. And there are not 500 people with torches who will smash up the building and apologize to them. … This is a great option to make an indicator for themselves. And then to tell in impersonal statistics how they (SBU – editor’s note) save the country from a huge number of spies and saboteurs. – Lawyer Andrey Gozhiy said to a journalist of the Pravoviy Kontrol.
Oksana Kuramshyna herself shared with our correspondent that she was not going to agree with the investigation and considered herself innocent.
Apparently, no political forces consider it appropriate to defend an ordinary citizen, a simple postman, rather than some political scientist or pseudo-journalist close to the body. This is a typical standard case that has been stamped out across Ukraine and is based on social media monitoring. – Lawyer Andrey Gozhiy summed up.
The preparatory hearing will be held in Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi District Court on 29 April at 10:00. Oksana Kuramshyna is defended by lawyer Andrey Gozhiy with the assistance of the international human rights organization «Solidarity Network» and information support from Pravaya Kontrol.