WITHOUT TESTS

Mikhail Frenkel, a correspondent of IsraGeo magazine in Kyiv. The photo taken by the author.

Can the Chief Military Prosecutor of Ukraine Anatolii Matios be called as a judophobe?

Man proposes, God disposes.

Recently I surfed the Internet and saw a quotation from the interview of the chief military prosecutor of Ukraine Anatolii Matios. So, I immediately decided to reply to it with a comment full of sharp criticism; I’ve written lots of such comments already. I strongly disagreed with the prosecutor’s words. And I’m quoting here:

 “Every war has its own Parvus who provided Lenin with money for the revolution, after which the Slavs were steeped in blood for decades. He also was of Jewish origin. In such a case (it was subject to the case of German – M. F), the same might happen to Ukraine …”

Literally everything sounds pretty bad here – both playing the Jewish origin card of the “hero” and comparing a low-priority agent to a revolutionary and great theorist of Marxism, who as a child survived by a miracle during two bashings – and for this reason had a bone to pick with the Russian autocracy. To cut a long story short, I hit the ground running.

But the lifelong habit to “measure thrice and cut once” prompted me to study this interview thoroughly. I read it. And I was surprised to find out that the main ideas of Matios are very similar to what I recently stated in the article “And let the Jews squeal”. The prosecutor said that today in Ukraine there is a great danger of a bloodshed and a forcible seizure of power. The key words in the interview were “Augusto Pinochet is already knocking at our door”, not the phrase about the Jews. And this was the reason for changing my initial decision. I called Matios and made arrangements for a meeting…

When I stepped into his office, I was really surprised. There were three portraits of famous people on the walls with the quotes from their works. Vasyl Stus, Hryhorii Skovoroda and… three attempts to guess. Okay, I’ll tell you. And Simon Wiesenthal. Among other things, there were several klezmer figures of the outstanding sculptor Frank Meisler on the prosecutor’s desk.

Having made no disguise of my slight surprise, I joked that portrait and all sculptures were obviously delivered to the office special for me. But Matios answered seriously that the portrait of Wiesenthal (by the way, beautifully made one) is the birthday present of his closest colleague who has relation to the Jewish people, and the works of Meisler he bought at the well-known store in Jaffa, as he had visited Israel more than a few times.

After that, I could only tell my interlocutor that in mid-1990s I was privileged to listen to Wiesenthal’s speech at a journalist conference in Jerusalem. But after thinking about the large number of people waiting in the prosecutor’s reception office, I posed my first question to Anatolii Vasylyovych.

– The commonly known law that was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada three years ago, touched not only upon decommunization, but also upon resistance against Neo-Nazism. However, having vehemently rushed into decommunization, Mr. Vyatrovych and his institute completely forgot about Neo-Nazism. And in these latter days, this political movement was in full swing in Ukraine. Actually, very few people in our country care about demolition of monuments to communist leaders. But we must not only counter stone-still people, but also resist the main supporters of ideologies, which are antithetical to democratic Ukraine.

In the meantime, we see that the example of the National Memory Institute became contagious. For example, on May 9 brave policemen grasped an old lady by her arms and legs and threw her into their car. Yes, she wore “St. George Ribbon”, but in fact, they could behave with an elderly person in more respectful manner. At the same time, we observed many times as the football fans put on swastika t-shirts and shrieked out the Nazi salute, they chanted “Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!”. And the security staff, whose task is to keep order in the stadium, timidly ask them to calm down. What can we think about it?

– Yes, nowadays there are very dangerous tendencies in Ukraine. What are they caused by? There’s no denying that the reason is situation in our country that has been lasting for the last four years. What’s going on? The war in a hybrid form, which results in revealing both the most heroic and the lowest traits in a man. Heroism, self-sacrifice, defense of the state also take place. These are usual things for any self-respecting people. The vivid example of this is all the history of modern Israel since 1948. The permanent hybrid war, the hostile encirclement of this holy land and state – and the desperate struggle of the people for existence.

And what is happening in Ukraine? Some people are heroes, others allow themselves to do horrible things. There is a complete breakdown of the state institutions under the name of “a reform”. But it’s easier to pull down than to build. Our reforms are beginning “from the roof” instead of a common and logic rule stating that firstly you need to lay the foundation, then build the walls, and then the roof. Indulgence of any acts of radicalism with respect to any person or ethnic group is out of the question. The state must fight against it.

To ensure this, it’s necessary to demonstrate all the preventive, legislative and practical instruments of power in order to combat any nationalistic – in the worst sense of this word – phobias aimed at any nationalities and communities. This is the way for us to follow.

I can affirm many things, but all my words will sound like slogans. And no matter what I’m talking about now, I cannot be responsible for the whole state. But due to my job position, I am the state representative in the sphere of law enforcement activity responsible for law maintenance in military formations, and I am deeply aware of the serious problems we have. But these problems, believe me, are often invisible not just to the public but even to those who are responsible for making serious political decisions.

Who am I talking about? About politicians. Our government policy has become primitive – it is populistic. One strives to be well received by certain part of the population, another one makes efforts to be publicized and re-elected, the third one is keen to get government assistance either from the West or from our eastern neighbor. And nobody sees the dangers to democracy in Ukraine, and even the threat to the very existence of our country.

When our political elite – I cannot call it politicum – signs all agreements, this everlasting populism, this desire to drum up hype by all means, to put it mildly, I’m fed up with it. And the problems are not mentioned. But suddenly, there are three bashings in a month, violence, and finally, they begin to kill an ethnic group, Roma in this case. And please note: half of the population keeps silence, another part that is working for grants, is strongly against it – but only in social networks, no more. Besides, there is no reaction from politicians. No reaction! The fact of oppression of one of the ethnic groups hasn’t become a high-priority issue in the Verkhovna Rada. Why is it so?

  Read more…

Augusto Pinochet is already knocking at our doors. The interview for INSIDER. June 25, 2018

– A couple of months ago you could have become the head of the Criminal Investigation Bureau if you had reached an agreement with Arsen Avakov and Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Why didn’t you seize such an opportunity?

– Did such an opportunity really exist?

– They say it did…

– And what would be in exchange for it? The head of the Criminal Investigation Bureau – in exchange for what?

– It’s question for you.

– It’s all parapolitical idle talk as to my somewhat demonized image. I do everything in the public view. I have the luxury of being myself, unlike all those who file claims, take legal steps or just don’t meet appropriate requirements but receive certain appointments according to the results of so-called “competitions”. I take the liberty to laugh at incompetence of the winner of such a competition.

 

Truba.

– It’s an instrument – by his telling last name as well as by the ideological function (note: in Ukrainian truba means a trumpet).

– Actually, people say that you weren’t appointed because you would never be anyone’s instrument.

– I am an instrument of Law, no matter how pathetic it may sound. There are things that are taboo for any adequate person, e. g. enslaving or tenancy at will of yourself. That’s why I care about my reputation and professionalism, which, in its turn, is taboo for strangers.

– Do you mean that professionalism is a taboo in our state?

– Unfortunately, there are few true professionals in our state. The majority of them belong only to the segment of future parties to cases in the anti-corruption court. There are “highly professional ones” in this corrupted area. I categorically assert it, to my regret. But they are “highly professional” in dominoes and checkers, not in chess. It’s professionalism of parasites feeding on the well-being of people – people, who, in their turn, regard all state institutions with great skepticism and sometimes even with hatred. Thus, no matter how long we – and I am related to the authorities, too – cry out about the happiness of our people, it has nothing to do with happiness.

– You were told in your eyes that you wouldn’t be the head of the Criminal Investigation Bureau.

– Well, they announced the results of the competition, according to which only two persons among all voted for me. The “independent” high professionals from the competition committee said I didn’t meet the “criteria”.

– And unofficially?

– I don’t pursue political negotiations because I’m not a political figure. I knew and understood well the disposition of this political collective farm pretty well.

– So, you took a risk?

– I always take a risk if I’m sure of my rightness and competence. No result as to the CIB is just God’s plan, which suggests that I probably had no need for it. I fulfill the function of my appointment to the best of my abilities.

– What’s your function now?

– My function is to tie-up with Law the terrible consequences of the war.

– And could you tell us what you are doing now – without using philosophical and lyrical phrases but through examples?

– The function of procuracy supervision hasn’t been canceled.

– Supervision only, because you can’t carry out investigation now.

– There are other, new investigative agencies in our state. There even is one agency that practically hasn’t been created up to now.

– Who is now investigating those cases that once belonged to your department – Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), Security Service of Ukraine (SSU)?

– As a result of the half-year blowing the tubes before the start of the game, now it’s like this – the person who has registered a certain case will investigate it. I will not walk with a begging bowl and beg anyone to register crimes! At the same time, I observe another trend – the military prosecutor’s office investigates the most disgusting crimes well known all over the country, say nothing of deserters, road accidents, hazing, journalists killed and resurrected, explosions.

– Why is it so? Due to the letters, petitions to the Prosecutor General from the heads of the bodies carrying out the investigations. Why? After all, only we go only forward and never back. There are no information leaks from the military prosecutor’s office. We do everything legally and fast indeed. So, there is always one and the same thing in life – in case of a fire, everyone is looking for buckets and water. So, we bear resemblance to the universal state fireman if the worst comes to the worst, no matter whether it’s our jurisdiction or not. Because there are practically no effective and reliable prosecutorial units in the state except us.

– But at the same time, you are accused of blocking the competition for other appointments in the IB in order to preserve your department and forbade your subordinates to apply for the competition in the Investigation Bureau (IB).

– Oh, again I’m a demon or almost the villain from “Harry Potter” who is being talked about “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”. So, the same with me – an instrument was hardly produced a first sound, and Matios had already blocked something. Only poorly educated people, without knowledge of the law, those who are other people’s instruments, can talk about such things. So, it turns out that I’m smarter than the whole system of the National Security Committee with its all negative consequences of not too inefficient manual control.

– Do you mean that Truba is an instrument of Sergei Pashynsky, the head of the National Security Committee?

– I’m talking in such a way for the smart person to understand, without wasting the nerves of my opponents with their imaginary phobias. I didn’t block anything, because no one can block the Law. All military prosecutors signed the military contract – all they are officers of the Armed Forces. The list of conditions for release during a special period includes only death, medical discharge or liquidation of the military body. The military prosecutor’s office isn’t liquidated as a body. The special period also includes the war in the East. A person in poor health goes to a hospital, writes about his unfitness for military service and then can find another profession.

Read more…

The judge detained; she is suspected of falsifying court decisions that transferred ownership of Donetsk citizens’ real estate to terrorists

Video of the briefing by the Chief Military Prosecutor Anatolii Matios (in Ukrainian)

On October 31, 2017, the Security Service of Ukraine together with the Military Prosecutor’s Office detained a judge of Belgorod-Dnistrovsky court, a native of Donetsk. She is suspected of producing fake  court decisions during 2015-16, using stamps stolen from Kirovsky District Court of Donetsk in 2014-2016.

According to those fake decisions, in the so-called DPR and LPR registrars made changes to the registration documents regarding real estate objects and housing in Donetsk, which belonged to Donetsk citizens; as a result, ownership of that real estate was transferred to representatives of terrorist organizations.

By now, three victims of that crime testified to having learned that they already had no residence in Donetsk by accidentally viewing the open registries of real estate property.

During the search, the following was found: papers from registration offices in so-called DPR, extracts from the registry, copies of court decisions made by judges who worked in Donetsk in 2013-2014 (the arrested judge produced fake decisions under their names).

Her accomplice and the main organizer of this scam and crime, was also detained.  He was the communicator between the suspected judge and the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the so-called DPR.

 

Investigators are close indeed to pinpointing real people who have taken terrorist attacks in Ukraine to the assembly line

Video of the briefing by the Chief Military Prosecutor Anatolii Matios (in Ukrainian)

In the Donetsk region, on the territories of so-called DPR and LPR, there exist special centers that have taken terrorist attacks to the assembly line. These centers are supervised by officers from the Russian special services. That is what investigators have found out for sure.

We will do our best and use all our modest, let me emphasize it, modest opportunities that are provided to us by the Law, in the atmosphere of critical attitude towards us from the society and media. We will do our work not only in relation, say, territories that are fully controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, but also on the temporarily occupied territories, namely in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts as well as in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

 

 

Several hundred soldiers of the National Guard left their military units in Kyiv and the region to rally near the Presidential Administration

PoltorakOn Oct. 13, several hundred soldiers of the National Guard left their military units in Kyiv and the region to rally near the Presidential Administration, demanding the end of draft. National Guard units are staffed though national mobilization, but the terms of service for these particular units have been extended several times beyond the usual one year.

Anatolii Matios, Ukraine’s chief military prosecutor and Yury Viytev, military prosecutor of the Central District, tried for hours to persuade the soldiers to disperse, saying that they were subject to criminal punishment for their actions.

Source: www.kyivpost.com

Address by the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko to the Joint Session of the United States Congress – 18.09.2014

Mr. Speaker,

Majority Leader,

Members of the House, Members of the Senate

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me thank you for your warmth and hospitality.

Addressing both houses of Congress is one of the highest political privileges.

Standing here, I am grateful – and fully aware that this honor goes not to me, but to the people of Ukraine – those brave men and women who are today on the forefront of the global fight for democracy!

Allow me speak to you on their behalf.

I will focus on one thing that is at the core of Ukraine’s existence today: freedom.

There are moments in history when freedom is more than just a political concept.

At those moments, freedom becomes the ultimate choice, which defines who you are – as a person and as a nation.

Ukraine has lived this moment over the last 10 months – and became the scene of the most heroic story of the last decade, a synonym for sacrifice, dedication and the unbreakable will to live free.

Read more…

Ukraine’s General Prosecutor Vitaliy Yarema appointed Anatoliy Matios his deputy – military prosecutor.

Ukraine’s General Prosecutor Vitaliy Yarema appointed Anatoliy Matios his deputy – military prosecutor. He mentions, before Matios was working with prosecutions’ problems in maintenance the process of law control. He also informed Yuriy Viytev was appointed the Central region’s military prosecutor, Pavel Bogutsky was appointed Eastern region’s military prosecutor, and Nikolay Lysyj was appointed Western region’s military prosecutor.