Avoiding responsibility and fighting for compensation: how law enforcement officers “compete” with Medvedchuk’s entourage on Trukhanov Island

In the capital, disputes continue around a site on Trukhanov Island with an area of ​​1.16 hectares, which back in 2011 was actually seized by the district public organization (RGO) “Club “Cossack””, which is part of the orbit of the odious ex-people’s deputy, accused of treason, Viktor Medvedchuk (in the collage ).

Thus, recently the court released the head of this organization, Yan Marchenko, from criminal liability for the unauthorized occupation of this territory without the consent of the Kyiv City Council - even though his actions led to damage to the state in the amount of 4.7 million hryvnia. The basis for this was the expiration of the statute of limitations from the moment the crime was committed. At the same time, the capital's prosecutor's office is currently trying to obtain a kind of compensation for the territorial community of the capital in court - law enforcement officers are demanding that it register ownership of the buildings located on this site, which the organization must demolish in accordance with court decisions. Law enforcement officers have already won in the court of first instance, and ROO lawyers have not yet had success in appealing this decision of the servants of Themis.

As it became known to KV, on March 13, 2024, the Dneprovsky District Court of Kyiv released the head of the RPO “Club “Cossack”” Yan Marchenko from criminal liability for unauthorized occupation of a land plot in a protected area (Part 2 of Article 197-1 of the Criminal Code (CC) of Ukraine) .

The official basis for this was the expiration of the statute of limitations from the moment the crime was committed; for the crime provided for in this article it is 3 years. At the same time, the court closed criminal proceedings No. 42021102070000006 dated March 19, 2021, which was opened by the police department in the river port of the Main Directorate of the National Police of Kyiv and within the framework of which an investigation was carried out into the offense accused of Yan Marchenko.

As law enforcement officers established, the specified person, being the director of the RPO “Kozak Club”, by prior agreement with the founders of this organization, on December 2, 2011, carried out unauthorized occupation of a land plot with an area of ​​1.16 hectares with registration code 66:438:0110, which is located on the territory of the lands of the natural reserve fund on Trukhanov Island (the bank of the Desenko River) in the Dnieper district of the capital. The fact of unauthorized occupation of this land is evidenced by the absence of a decision of the City Council on its allocation to the ownership or use of the specified ROO. According to investigators, Yan Marchenko had selfish motives in this story - the site was seized for free use, as well as for the purpose of organizing the activities of a sports base [located there] and the possibility of actually using unauthorized buildings, structures and sports facilities for his own interests.” .

During the investigation, law enforcement officers also learned that on the specified land plot, a fencing of the territory was installed up to the water line of the Desenka River, which limited free access to the reservoir (i.e., we are talking about a violation of the constitutional right of citizens to access reservoirs. - KV). At the same time, according to information from the State Environmental Inspectorate of the Capital District dated April 28, 2021, as a result of the illegal actions of Yan Marchenko, the state suffered losses in the amount of 4.7 million hryvnia. This amount was confirmed by the results of a forensic examination carried out as part of this proceeding.

Let us note that Yan Marchenko was notified of the suspicion on July 6, 2022, but the court decisions on this proceeding do not specify whether he was served with the suspicion in person. Subsequently, on July 13, 2022, the National Police put him on the wanted list, and due to the fact that law enforcement officers were unable to establish Marchenko’s whereabouts, on November 7, 2023, the investigation into this case was stopped. On December 21, 2023, the Podolsk District Prosecutor’s Office resumed the pre-trial investigation, and soon after that, an indictment was ready against the head of the RGO “Club “Cossack””. Whether law enforcement officers found him is also not indicated in the resolutions, but it is known that Yan Marchenko himself directly filed a petition with the court to release him from criminal liability.

Context of the story

On May 24, 2001, the Kyiv City Council, by decision No. 324/1300, agreed for the RPO “Club “Cossack”” on the location of the sports and fitness complex on Trukhanov Island (the bank of the Desenko River) in the Dnieper district on a site with an approximate area of ​​1.17 hectares. In effect, this meant “reserving” land—that is, the organization “promised” to allocate it for future use or ownership if certain conditions were met.

Subsequently, on December 6, 2001, an agreement was concluded between the RPO “Club “Cossack”” and the Kyiv City Council to reserve the specified site for a period of 3 years. According to this agreement, the organization had the right of priority to receive documents certifying the right of ownership or use of the reserved plot.” At the same time, the RPO “Club “Cossack”” was also entrusted with certain obligations, for example, to order an architectural and planning task, develop a construction project and apply to the City Council with a petition for the allocation or sale of this land.

In October 2019, the capital’s prosecutor’s office filed a lawsuit with the Economic Court of Kyiv to return the said site to the municipal property of the capital’s society and bring it “into a usable state by releasing the property located on it, including buildings and structures.” The main argument of law enforcement officers was that the City Council did not make decisions on the transfer of this land to the ownership or use of the RGO “Club “Cossack””. At the same time, according to the plaintiffs, the organization did not pay land tax for this plot during 2016-2019.

The prosecutor’s office also pointed out “the absence of real estate on this site owned by the ROO Club Cossack, the rights to which were registered with him in the manner prescribed by law.” It was precisely about the fact that the ownership of the buildings located on this site with a total area of ​​496.8 square meters. – four public houses and a cellar – were not registered with the RPO “Club “Cossack””, although, obviously, this could be a “justifiable” reason for the organization’s presence in this territory. At the same time, in the court materials in this case it was noted that the relevant government bodies did not issue permits for the construction and commissioning of these real estate objects.

Law enforcement officers managed to win the court of first instance, after which the ROO Club Cossack was able to appeal this decision on appeal. However, the final victory in this case was still with the prosecutor’s office - the corresponding decision was made by the Supreme Economic Court on June 2, 2021.

In June 2023, the capital's prosecutor's office sent another lawsuit to the Economic Court of Kyiv to recognize the Kyiv City Council's ownership of these buildings. This was due to the fact that the ROO “Club “Cossack””, as of the time of preparation of the claim, had not cleared the site from the structures, as provided for by court decisions in the above-mentioned court case, and therefore law enforcement officers decided to protect the interests of the capital’s society by “recording” it ownership of these buildings. That is, it seems that we are talking about a kind of compensation for the use of land without title documents. At the same time, one of the grounds for such “protection” was that, according to the Civil Code of Ukraine, it is possible to recognize the ownership of unauthorized structures as the owner of the land plot on which they are located.

The RPO “Club “Cossack”” objected to meeting such demands of law enforcement officers. In particular, the organization noted that the execution of the court decision in the above-mentioned court case is currently ongoing. At the same time, the defendants noted that the courts cannot “issue construction permits and approve developments, and the recognition of ownership of a construction project that has not been accepted for operation, in the absence of information about its compliance with state building codes, is not provided for by the norms of the current legislation.”

On November 8, 2023, the capital’s economic court fully satisfied the demands of law enforcement officers. The ROO "Club "Cossack" filed an appeal against this court decision to the Northern Economic Court of Appeal, but on December 19 last year, the servants of Themis left it without movement. The reason for this, in particular, was that the organization does not have its own electronic account of the Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunication System (ECITS).

Screenshot of the court decision dated November 8, 2023

On January 15, 2024, the same court returned its complaint to the organization - due to the fact that the complainant did not eliminate the above-mentioned deficiency. Subsequently, the ROO “Club “Cossack”” filed a cassation appeal against the decision of the court of appeal dated January 15, but on February 21, 2024, this court refused to accept it. The basis for this was the fact that the lawyer of the public organization did not confirm that he had the authority to represent the interests of the complainant.

Medvedchuk's trace

According to the Youcontrol analytical system, the ROO Club Cossack was registered in May 1999. As reported above, its leader is Yan Marchenko. In turn, the founders of this organization are residents of Kyiv Alexander Shevelev, Yuri Paliy and Alexander Litvinov.

According to media reports, the ROO “Club “Cossack”” is included in the orbit of the odious Viktor Medvedchuk, a former people’s deputy and one of the leaders of the now banned Opposition Platform - For Life (OPZZH) party, who is accused of high treason and is in Russia. .

Thus, according to the portal “Our Money”, the above-mentioned Yuriy Paliy is a former employee of LLC “Investment Company “Ukrkapital” - one of the oldest and most famous assets of the family of Viktor Medvedchuk. In turn, Alexander Litvinov is an ex-assistant of Medvedchuk’s long-time business partner, and now his fellow party member in the OPZZH - People’s Deputy Grigory Surkis. In addition, Yan Marchenko is a former assistant to another of Medvedchuk’s associates in the said political force and business – people’s deputy Taras Kozak, also suspected of treason. In addition, the head of the Russian Geographical Society “Kazak Club” was the director of several agricultural companies, part of which in 2017 Medvedchuk’s wife, the famous presenter Oksana Marchenko, began to own.

Also, the connection between this public organization and Viktor Medvedchuk’s entourage is indicated by the fact that back in 2019, Bihus.info journalists recorded that the base of the Storm security agency operates on the above-mentioned site on Trukhanov Island. The latter is engaged in the protection of the Medvedchuk family and a number of properties owned by it throughout the country. According to journalists, this agency belongs to Medvedchuk’s associates in his political movement “Ukrainian Choice” Ivan Boychenko and Viktor Cherny. The latter is also a people’s deputy – he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada from the same OPZZH.

At the same time, as Bihus.info reported, “The Cossack Club helped Medvedchuk in the early 2000s to obtain about 10 hectares of a protected area on the banks of the Dnieper - it was to this organization that the Kiev Regional Council transferred part of the territory of the Beloozersky National Park in Pereyaslav back in 2001. Khmelnitsky under its statutory activities. According to journalists, subsequently tens of thousands of “squares” of environmental significance ended up in the use of Terra-Invest Investment Company LLC, which belongs to Medvedchuk. Then this company resold the land to the company of the fugitive ex-Minister of Revenue and Duties Alexander Klimenko “Goldwein”. Subsequently, the Hunter House estate appeared there with a hotel, a helipad, its own temple and a private zoo.

It is worth noting that legal disputes also continue around this land - they were initiated by the Kiev Regional Prosecutor's Office, which is trying to return this site to state ownership. Law enforcement officers have already had intermediate successes - on February 8, 2024, the Northern Economic Court of Appeal rejected the appeal of Goldwein LLC against the decision of the first instance court that was unsuccessful for this company.

As KV reported, Viktor Medvedchuk’s entourage had and still has significant business interests in Kyiv. In particular, people from its orbit, even before 2022, owned Dynamo-Atlantic LLC, a company that owns three 19th-century buildings in the lane. Filippovsky, 4,6, 8 (Shevchenkovsky district).

The capital's public is fighting for the preservation of these structures, accusing the said LLC of destroying these facilities and demanding that local authorities take them under protection. However, so far on Khreshchatyk, 36 have not lifted a finger to satisfy such demands. Moreover, on February 29, 2024, the Kyiv City Council renewed Dynamo-Atlantika’s land lease agreement at the specified address, which actually gives this company a free hand to build an office center there.

The Department of Land Resources of the Kyiv City State Administration has been headed by Valentina Pelikh since June 29, 2021. Previously, from July 27, 2018 to April 1, 2021, this department was headed by Petr Olenich. The latter, since April 2, 2021, has held the position of Deputy Chairman of the Kyiv City State Administration for the exercise of self-governing powers and oversees land and urban planning issues in Kyiv.