UCSJ REPORT: HATE CRIMES IN THE UKRAINE

Congress of National Communities of Ukraine

National Minority Rights Monitoring Group

Hate crimes in Ukraine in 2015

Vyacheslav Likhachev

Chronicle of Hate-Motivated Violence

On the evening of May 17, at about 10PM, a group of approximately 10 people attacked a man of Nigerian descent. The attack was accompanied by insults that targeted the victim’s race. The victim tried to break free and run, but the attackers were able to catch up to him several times. According to eyewitnesses, neither passersby nor nearby policemen intervened.

The victim was finally able to hide from his pursuers in an Arab café at the Bessarabskiy Market. The staff called an ambulance for the victim. The victim received multiple fractures of his fingers and shin, as well as bruises of the head.

He declined to inform the police.[1].

The attackers seem to be soccer fans who were returning from a match in the Olimpic National Sports Complex.

According to Otman Shadi, the director of the Al-Manar Islam Cultural Center in Kharkiv, two young men attacked a Syrian, an ethnic Kurd, approximately on June 8. The attack on Blyuher street (near the Studencheskaya metro station) took place late at night, and the victim received several knife wounds[2].

On June 11, a group of unidentified youths, some of whom hid their faces with masks and balaclavas, attacked citizens near Oktar Yarosh street and on Klochkovskaya street. Many student dormitories, including those housing international students, are located in the vicinity of those streets.

There were approximately 30-40 attackers, and they divided themselves into two groups as they approached the dormitories. Some of them were armed with baseball bats and various bladed/pointed articles. Both citizens of Ukraine and international students were victims of the attacks. 9 of the victims had to receive medical help for cranial trauma and cut/stab wounds. Three were given first aid and then received ambulatory care, and six had to be hospitalized. Four of those who had to be hospitalized were citizens of Jordan. The condition of two of them was serious enough to require an operation[3]. Two of the victims flew to Jordan for treatment on June 15.

The attackers also trashed cars, broke windows, and killed two dogs.

The police arrested 5 suspects on the night of June 11. The perpetrator’s actions were qualified according to Article 296, Part 4 (“hooliganism”), Article 15, Part 2 (“criminal attempt”), Article 115, Part 1 (“attempted murder”), and Article 187, Part 2 (“brigandism”) of the Ukrainian Criminal Code.[4].

Chief of the Regional Police Central Office Anatoliy Dmitriyev said that the police will tighten security in areas of residence of international students and that police patrolling courses will be adjusted to reflect the situation.

It remains unknown whether the attacker were members of any organization and what their motives were. According to unofficial information provided by law enforcement bodies,[5]ultras soccer fans were among the attackers. Some media outlets and discussions in online social networks have put forward assumptions that the incident was some kind of punitive action, a response by local youths to an unknown conflict with the international students;[6]however, we were unable to confirm this version of events.

The victims and onlookers opinions on motivations of the attack are divided. Some believe the attackers did not care about the ethnicity and appearance of the victims,[7]while others think that foreigners were specifically targeted for the attack, as the only locals that had been hurt were together with Asian and African students at the time. The sum of information about the victims allows us to state with certainty that most of the victims were foreigners.

Posts approving the actions of the attackers appeared on social networks and on certain radical right websites. The “VKontakte” social network’s community “Voice of the Nation/The Ultra-Right Activist” published a post titled “Patriots in Kharkiv attacked black-assed “students” with melee weapons”[8]. The authors of the post described several “deficiencies in the operation,” including: “1) Didn’t finish culling the occupants); 2) some f...kers brought cell phones and so wound up detained by morning.”

The official website of the “Stepan Bandera Tryzub” organization, which became the base for the Right Sector’s creation, also approved of the attackers. The article published in their defense began thus: “the hounds of the regime have arrested young people that put migrant students, who had brazenly terrorized locals, into their proper place.” The article uses extremely harsh expressions, such as “zaydy” (uninvited guests), “prybludy” (bastards), and so on[9].

The Kharkiv division of the Azov civilian corps batallion made a statement that “not a single one of our representatives or fighters had anything to do with these events at all, much less directly take part in them.” The statement also notes that Azov published it because “law enforcement officials have made unofficial conjectures during the investigation that representatives of the Azov civilian corps and fighters of the Azov batallion might have been involved.”[10].

On June 13, the Ukrainian Security Services Chairman Valentyn Nalyvaichenko stated that the Kharkiv bloodbath might have been organized by the Russian intelligence services. According to Nalyvaichenko, the “groups were local, but they were provoked and inspired by foreign intelligence services—Russian intelligence services.” He believes that the provocation was organized because “precisely before Russia Day someone wanted a horrifying picture for the use of Russia’s propaganda machine”[11].

On June 15, the foreign students of Kharkiv’s universities assembled at Constitution Square in Kharkiv for a rally. The students demanded that the perpetrators of the pogrom be punished accordingly[12].

On June 24, five of those detained in connection to the case were released after investigatory action was taken. None of them were served with notices of suspicion. The Kharkiv City Ministry of Interior Affairs Department said that several criminal cases were opened after the massive fight, including four for “attempted murder” as well as “brigandism” (one of the students had been robbed; the attackers took his cell phone and a piece of jewellery (chain)) and “hooliganism”[13].

On July 3, First Prosecutor Deputy of Kharkiv Oblast Artem Stepanov said that over 700 witnesses had been questioned in connection to the case[14]. He also said that “we have an understanding of who might be part of this crime, and we are collecting evidence so that we are able say with certainty to whom we can give notice of suspicion.”[15].

On July 24, the head of the Main Division of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kharkiv Oblast Anatoliy Dmitriev told the journalist that the police have their first suspect in the July 11 Kharkiv pogrom case. He has been given notice of suspicion for a crime qualified under Article 296, Part 4 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (“hooliganism”)[16]. The police denies the possibility that the crime had been motivated by inter-ethnic hatred, as “only four” of the victims were citizens of Jordan. The investigation believes that “it was just a regular brawl. Someone talked smack at a young couple, that went on for a while, then more guys came up, and these ones had knives, and then a fight ensued.”[17].

On December 23, the PR Department of the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor’s office said that a nineteen-year-old student, who had been an active participant in the “so-called Jordan pogrom” of June 11 (as the Prosecutor’s office termed it in their statement), has been taken to criminal court. The acts of the suspect are qualified according to Article 294, Part 1 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (“ Organizing riots accompanied with violence against any person, riotous damage, arson, destruction of property, taking control of buildings or construction, forceful eviction of citizens, resistance to authorities with the use of weapons or any other things used as weapons, and also active participation in riots”).

According to the statement made by the PR Department, “the pre-trial investigation has determined that the ‘march against the Jordanites’ had been prepared in advance due to a conflict about a young woman.” “Young people in masks attacked students from Jordan near a cafe where the foreigners had taken to spending their free time, and then gave chase, destroying their cars in the process. Particularly, one of the suspects in the riots broke the window of a car belonging to a 28-year-old citizen of Jordan, who had been in the car at the time, and damaged the body of the car.” The damages from the suspect’s actions are estimated at 14,5 thousand hryvnia.[18]

On June 18, a Ukrainian citizen of Tajik heritage, who had recently graduated from school, had been attacked in Kharkiv. According to the victim, the attack happened at approximately 22:00, when he had been coming up to the Naukova metro station. About 10-15 people surrounded the victim in a narrow alley. According to the victim, his attackers looked like radical right activists, particularly due to them wearing their jeans with characteristically rolled up legs. One of the attackers said “we carve up non-Russians!” and they began beating him. The victim began to scream for help loudly, and the attackers ran off. As a final blow, one of the hooligans used pepper spray on the victim[19].

The victim had been given first aid at the local mosque. He decided not to file a statement with the police.

On July 8, it became known that police workers beat a student from Sudan in Chernivtsi[20].

Since we do not have adquate follow-up information on this report, we are not including it into our final statistic.

On July 15, a group of young people attacked the congregation of the Islam Center in Dniepropetrovsk. Initially, two hooligans ran up to a Muslim and began beating him. When other members of the congregation came outside to see what the disturbance was, a group of 10-15 people had already been waiting for them.

Criminal proceedings were opened, and preliminary assessment qualified the case according to Article 296, Part 2 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (“hooliganism”). The victim received a concussion and soft-tissue bruises on his head.[21].

On July 26, in the Saltivka district of Kharkiv, two policemen approached two dark-skinned young men (who were from Ghana and Nigeria, as was later learned), who were sitting at a stop, and asked them for their documents. One of them showed his student card, to which one of the policemen said, “That’s not a document.” “How is it not a document?” the student replied in surprise. Instead of answering, the policeman began beating the young man, and he and his partner dragged the victim towards their car. The policemen used force, threatened, and insulted the student.[22].

Passersby interfered, demanding that the police show their own documents. “Is this because I’m black? You’re racist!” said the student who had been attacked to the policeman.

A passerby caught the incident on camera and published the recording online. The video garnered significant resonance.[23]. The Kharkiv police promised to report once the incident had been subjected to internal review.[24].

On December 29 the PR Department of the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor’s Office reported that the case of the 31-year-old policeman and the 44-year-old patrol police inspector, who beat the student from Gana, had been taken to the Moscow District Court of Kharkiv[25].

The incident was qualified according to Article 365, Part 2 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (“Excess of authority or official powers”).

On August 19, a fifteen-year-old dark-skinned youth, Uzu David, was attacked in the Kyiv metro. The attack took place at approximately 7:30 PM. According to the victim, a group of over 40 people entered the train carriage. The young people were acting out of line and violated public order. They accosted the dark-skinned youth with racist slurs and threats. When Uzu David left the train at the Poznyaky metro station, a group of approximately ten people surrounded him at the platform. They began shoving him and hitting him. The beating was stopped by other passengers, who interfered.

The policeman on duty of the Line Control Division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (division responsible for security on railways and metro lines - transl.) was absent from his post. The victim filed a complain with the Darnitsya Regional Department of the Main Department of the MIA of Ukraine in the city of Kyiv.[26].

Criminal proceedings were instigated according to Article 125, part 1 of the Ukrainia Criminal Code (“Intended minor bodily injury”).[27].

On September 24, it became known that the charges for the criminal proceedings instigated after the beating of a dark-skinned youth in the Kyiv metro have been amended from Article 125, Part 1 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (“Intended minor bodily injury”) to Article 161, Part 2 (“Willful actions inciting national, racial or religious enmity and hatred, humiliation of national honor and dignity [...] accompanied with violence”). (31)[28].

Former Right Sector political party candidate Oleg Kutserib, who had earlier publicly admitted that he had committed homophobic attacks, wrote to the victim’s mother on Facebook. She had posted the details of the incident, and Kutserib had commented to support racist violence towards the youth, using racist slurs as he did it[29]. After the politician’s statements gained a wide resonance, the Right Sector made an official statement, in which they noted that “the person named Oleg Kutserib has no relation to our organization at the moment.” According to the statement of the Kyiv wing of the Right Sector, “he did indeed run for an MP position with us in the autumn; however, later he was banned from our organization due to his actions, which denigrated the party’s honor.”[30].

On August 21, Ombudsman of Ukraine Valeriya Lutkovska made an open request to the Prosecutor General and the Minister of Internal Affairs to take the investigation under their personal control and to take measures to ensure a full and objective investigation of the case and its circumstances connected to manifestations of racial intolerance, which are present in the perpetrators’ actions.[31].

On the night of August 24, a fight took place between two groups of young people in Kyiv, near Bessarabskaya Square. One of the sides of the conflict was made up of people of African descent. A video recording made by a representative of the patrol police shows one dark-skinned young man demonstrating his bloody hand and shouting “This is because I’m black, isn’t it?”[32].

According to official information provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the victim cut his hand when he fell on a broken glass bottle. The report notes that this version is confirmed by a surveillance camera installed in one of the nearby stores.

Participants of the incident, having been taken to the Shevchenkivsky district police department, refused to file writte statements and said that they have no claims against each other.[33].

Since we do not have adquate follow-up information on this report, we are not including it into our final statistic.

On September 15, the 28-year-old citizen of Israel Amir Ohana, who came to Uman (Cherkasy Region) for the annual Rosh Hashana pilgrimage, went missing in Uman.[34].

The body of the man was found in a local lake three days later[35]. As was later determined, he died of natural causes. The deceased had epilepsy. As best can be reconstructed, he had an attack on the shore and fell into the water[36].

We are not including this tragic incident in our statistic and are including it in the write-up only because an anti-Semitic crime had been suspected before the true cause of death was determined. Before the Israeli’s body had been found, a video recording had been published on the Internet, where people dressed in military clothes and with a Ukrainian flag mock and beat a man dressed as an Orthodox Jew. The thugs even imitated shooting their prisoner and threatened to blow him up with a grenade.[37]. Even though the precise time and place of the video shoot remains undetermined, suspicions have been voiced in connection to the video’s publication that the young man might have become a hostage of nationalist anti-Semites.[38]. As far as can be determined through circumstantial evidence, the video shoot was staged and has nothing to do with the Uman tragedy.

On October 20, during a match in Kyiv between the Dynamo (Kyiv) and Chelsea teams of the UEFA Champions League, fans of the Kyiv club severely beat four black spectators, as well as several people who tried to protect the victims. The incident happened at the 19th sector of the Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex. It has been supposed that the attackers might be connected to the fan-group “Rodichi” (“Kindred”).[39]. Moreover, at least one more black spectator was hurt due to a concerted assault at sector 23 of the stadium. According to eyewitnesses of the beatings, which have been recorded on video by the “2 + 2” channel, the attacks were accompanied by shouts of “White power!”, which is certainly an indicator of a hate motive in the attackers’ actions.[40].

According to an official statement by the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs made on October 23, the Pechersk District Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kyiv, criminal proceedings have been instigated to investigate the crime. The incident was qualified according to Article 296, Part 2 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (“hooliganism”).

The incident garnered a wide resonance both in Ukraine and abroad. Particularly, an upsurge of indignation was caused by an inappropriate statement made by Vladimir Spilnichenko, the Director of the Olimpiyskiy National Sport Complex. When talking to a “2 + 2” journalist, Spilnichenko said that it might be a good idea to create a separate sector for dark-skinned spectators. Later, the stadium’s PR department said that the statement had been taken out of context and, in fact, that the director of the sports complex had in fact spoken against creating separate sectors for different categories of spectators.[41].

Many of the commentators, particularly Dynamo Vice President Alexei Semenenko, have supposed that the incident had been a “provocation,” an “act planned in advance” by somebody who is “interested in making the social situation of every Ukrainian citizen worse.” We do not believe that this version has much merit.[42].

On November 6, the Vice President of the Football Federation of Ukraine Igor Kochetov said that “the group of people, seven people in all, has been identified, there are photographs, and criminal proceedings have been opened”[43].

On November 22, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko commented on the incident during a meeting with the players of the Ukrainian national football team. Poroshenko said that “there are ample grounds to say that the tracks from the latest provocations at the Dynamo-Chelsey match lead to Russia. Their goal was to create a situation wherein Ukraine could be accused of racism”[44].

Meanwhile, community activists have held an informal investigation, whose results were published on November 24 at the bukvy.com website. The most active attackers were identified through photos and video recordings of the incident. They turned out to be national-radicals who are well-known among football fans, participants of radical right football fan groups, who have in recent years been connected to the Azov civilian corps and personally with MP Andriy Biletsky[45].

As became known on November 25, the UEFA decided to fine “Dynamo” over the October 20 racist incident for 100 thousand euros. Moreover, the team has been ordered to play the next two UEFA home matches behind closed doors, with a third suspended for a probationary period of three years[46].

On December 17, the Main Department of National Police in Kyiv has stated that they have ascertained the identity of one of the attackers. He has been given notice of suspicion for committing a crime qualified according to Article 296, Part 2 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (“hooliganism”). The Main Police Department has announced that the case will be taken to court “very soon.” According to the police, other participants in the incident have not been identified yet. Materials referring to the unidentified perpetrators have been moved to separate criminal proceedings[47].

A citizen of Guinea had been attacked on November 9 in Lviv. The attack took place late at night, at about 1AM, and happened on Chornovola street. The victim was attacked by a group of four or more people. The attackers shouted racist insults as they beat him[48].

The victim sustained a broken jaw, and his ear had been damaged by a sharp object. He had been hospitalized and later had an operation.

On the night of November 20, a man of Somali origine had been the victim of a hate-motivated attack while he was on his way from Kyiv to Bila Tserkva. Five young men started insulting and provoking the Somali in the train he had been taking to his destination, calling him “black.” One of them shoved the Somali, he shoved the offender back, and a fight began, which was stopped by other passengers.

At approximately 9 PM, when the Somali stepped outside the train at Bilaya Tserkva, five unidentified persons followed him. He attempted to run away, but they caught up with him and attacked from behind. The attackers severely beat the victim using their hands and legs. Passersby found the unconscious victim and called an ambulance. He had been hospitalized on the night of November 20, [49]and left the hospital five days later due to bad conditions within the hospital.

On the night of December 22, W., a member of the religious Jewish community (private information is concealed for security reasons), went shopping in one of the towns in the Zakarpattia Oblast, where a group of people accosted him, calling him “kike face.” When he left the shop, he was beaten.

The victim filed a statement with the police. Criminal proceedings were opened, with the crime being preliminarily qualified as “intended minor bodily injury.”[50].

Chronicle of Hate-Motivated Vandalism

On the night of January 12, vandals drew swastikas on the memorial stones near the “Menorah” memorial in the National Historical and Cultural Preserve “Babiy Yar” in Kyiv[51].

On the night of January 14, three people threw six bottles of incendiary mixture inside the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchy built in honor of the Joy of All Who Sorrow icon, which is located on the premises of the Babiy Yar Preserve.[52].

On the morning of January 30, unknown vandals drew swastikas in grey paint on the memorial stones near the Babiy Yar “Menorah” memorial in Kyiv[53].

On February 14, an act of anti-Semitic vandalism was found to have taken place at a historic Jewish cemetery near former artillery depots in Kremenchug (Poltavskaya Oblast). The criminals desecrated an ohel—an open-air structure on the graes of Sarah and Chaya, daughters of the Hasid tsaddik Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. Unknown vandals set fire to the inside of the tomb, and wrote neo-Nazi graffiti on its exterior. The graffiti included swastikas, a Celtic cross, and the neo-Nazi subculture code 14/88 (14 stands for “14 words,” a slogan of the skinhead neo-Nazis, 88 stands for “Heil Hitler”, using the number of the letter “h” in the Latin alphabet)[54]. Juding by the letters “FCKK,” which were inscribed on the four sides of the Celtic cross, it can be inferred that the act of vandalism had been committed by football hooligans. It is very likely that these letters signify the “Kremen” Football Club of Kremenchug.

The “Ohalei Tsaddikim” organization had only finished restoring the walls of the ohel and other renovations a month ago. The cemetery also holds the graves of the sons-in-law and students of Rabbi Nachman. Pilgrims all over the world come to visit the graves.

This is the third act of vandalism aimed at the graves of Rabbi Nachman’s daughters and the Breslov tsaddikim. The tomb had been desecrated in July 2014 and i April 2013, but the vandals had not drawn any neo-Nazi symbols in those two cases.

On the morning of March 11, unknown perpetrators threw a commerically-made flare, which exploded and damaged the roof of a shoarma kiosk at the Vydubichi metro station in Kyiv.[55]. No one had been hurt. The police have not put forward the assumption that this might be a hate crime.

On the night of March 22, unknown vandals desecrated a memorial to Holocaust victims on the Kherson highway.

A swastika and the letters NSNK were drawn in black spray paint on the memorial. The NS in NSNK is obviously “national socialism,” the NK possibly signify Nikolayev (or Mykolayiv in the Ukrainian transcription, a local city -transl.), but the letters are not written clearly and other readings are possible.[56].

The memorial had been erected by the Jewish community in December 2011, and in June 2013 it had been transferred into the city’s communal ownership. The memorial had already been vandalized multiple times before.

On April 22, an arson attempt was made on the church in honor of the Mother of God, Joy of All Sorrows icon located in Babiy Yar in Kyiv[57].

On April 26, unknown vandals desecrated the memorial to victims of Fascism near Tolbukhina square in Odesa, where occupants burned approximately 25 thousand people alive in the buildings of former artillery depots. Most of the victims were Jews from Odesa and Bessarabia, but some were also Soviet navy sailors who were prisoners of war.

Unknown vandals inscribed the memorial with swastikas, a Celtic cross, “NSWP” and “Death to Kikes!”

The locals found Nazi inscriptions and a swastika on the memorial. After the locals went to the police, community service providers erased the inscriptions[58].

On May 12 it became known that the memorial to Holocaust victims in Novomoskovsk (Dnipropetrivskaya Oblast) had been vandalized yet again. Unknown vandals wrote “PEACE WORK MAY” on the memorial and drew red stars on the edges. This is at least the fourth act of vandalism aimed at the memorial, which was erected three years ago[59].

Late night on May 28, an explosion happened at the Roshen factory outlet located in the Obolon district of Kyiv, on 14 Tymoshenko street.

According to the MIA Kyiv Public Relations Department, the explosion created a 60-centimeter diameter hole in the wall. The shock wave damaged shelves and some of the goods within the store.

Experts believe that the explosive device was placed between the store’s external wall and the air conditioner, which was located outside.

The police instigated criminal proceedings, and the crime had been preliminarily qualified according to Article 296, Part 4 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (“hooliganism”).

On the following day, the radical right group “Kiev Division” published a video,[60]in which an unknown man with a baseball bat, using a Ukrainian flag as a backdrop, stands with his back to the camera and states that the explosives were set by the “fighters” of this organization. Poroshenko, the owner of Roshen Incorporated, was called a “Judaic dictator” in the man’s statement.

The man in the recording stated literally the following (peculiarities of speech have been preserved as closely as possible): “Today, on 29.05, the fighters of our NS/WP Kiev Division group have set a shell-less explosive device at a Roshen store belonging to the Judaic dictator Poroshenko. Ever since he came to power, all of Ukraine’s industry has been going downhill. The population is dying out, and Poroshenko’s business has grown by 18 times. We call for all radical right activists to enact massive strikes on the business of this legitimately-elected occupant, who is destroying our country. We avait new explosions, our comrades-in-arms.”

The speech comes across as rather strange. The man is speaking in Russian, with no noticeable Ukrainian accent. It can be inferred that he is either reproducing a text poorly learned by heart or is reading the statement inattentively off a printed page (the man is standing with his back to the camera, so it is impossible to know for certain whether he is reading or not). The man is notably using particular formal turns of phrase (“shell-less explosive device” might as well have come from a police protocol, and actual “radical right activists” rarely call themselves by that particular moniker) and some of his phrases are ill-coordinated (“since he has come to power at Ukraine”; “s momenta prykhoda k vlasti Ukrainoy”). It would seem that the text is accusing Poroshenko of being elected illegitimately, but the “il” is lost in the actual recording. It is hard to explain the “legitimately elected occupant” turn of phrase otherwise, as well as the accusation of being a dictator that is aimed at Poroshenko standing right next to the statement that he had been “legitimately elected.” It is also notable that the explosion took place at approximately 11PM on May 28. Naturally, the media only published information about the incident on the next day, but it is strange that a representative of the group taking responsibility for the act would have confused the dates.

In the name of the group, NS stands for “national-socialism,” and WP, “white power,” for holding up the racist principle of “white supremacy.” The web page of the KIEV DIVIϟION (the participants of the group use the “ϟ”, the “sig” rune of the Armanen Futhark, instead of the latin “s,” for the group’s title) starts with the infamous “14 words” racist slogan. The statement about the group taking responsibility for the explosion at the Roshen factory outlet is accompanied by a song composed by the “White Terror” group (“we will not give a centimeter of our country to the cattle”). The webpage of the group publishes Nazi and Neo-Nazi posters and propaganda materials (particularly glorifying the Russian racist killer Dmitry Borovikov), and reports of joint operations together with such radical right groups as “Nazhdak” (“Emery cloth”) and “Modniy prigovor” (“Fashion sentence”). The last group is a “copypaste” of a Russian neo-Nazi movement created by Maksim Martsinkevich, better known as Tesak. “Kiev Division” and these groups attacked slot parlors and kiosks that sell smoking blends (“spices”).

Earlier, Roshen shops had been attacked by activists of “Revanche,” another radical right group.[61].

On the night of June 15, unknown perpetrators desecrated a memorial to Holocaust victims in Nikopol (Ukraine, Dnipropetrovskaya Oblast).

A Nazi swastika had been drawn in red over a white Star of David. According to the website of the Dnipropetrovsk Jewish community, this was reported by the Executive Director of the Nicopol Jewish Community Alexander Taratuta[62].

The law enforcement authorities have been notified about the incident, and a statement has been filed with the police.

In early July, a group of Jewish tourists reported that the “Menorah” memorial to Holocaust victims, standing at Babiy Yar (Kyiv), had been vandalized yet again. Swastika graffiti had been drawn on the memorial[63].

In the night of June 28, unknown vandals attempted to set fire to an ambulance belonging to the Jewish paramedical and rescue organization Hatzalah Ukraine.[64].

It is unclear whether the incident was motivated by anti-Semitic hatred, and our investigation is currently ongoing.

In early July, it became known that the “Menorah” memorial to Holocaust victims, standing at Babiy Yar (Kyiv), has been vandalized yet again. According to the statement of the Jewih Forum of Ukraine, the “Menorah” memorial and a memorial to Ukrainian nationalists who had also been killed at the mass shooting site were drenched in a liquid of unknown origin.[65].

On August 3, it became known that an act of vandalism took place at a Jewish cemetery in Uzhgorod (Zakarpattia region), located on Kotlyarevskogo street in the Shahta microdistrict. The police were able to establish that unknown vandals damaged 19 tombstones in the period from July 28 and August 1.

Proceedings were instigated according to Article 297 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (“Violation of graves, any other burial place, or a corpse”).[66].

On August 12, at approximately 6:30 PM, an unknown man attempted to set fire to wooden bulding materials (several cubic meters of timber beams and planks), which were stacked near residential buildings belonging to the Romani community of Uzhgorod’s Shahta microdistrict, located near school #14. According to the locals, the unidentified man first threatened the Roma and then used a plastic bottle full of incendiary mixture to set fire to the wooden planks. Then he got into his car and drove away. The residents of the houses immediately called both the firefighters and the police. Judging by the photos, the building materials suffered severe fire damage, but the fire did not spread to the houses. The police recorded the crime.[67].

On the morning of August 27, the Melitopol District Council (Zaporizhia region) session began with a notification by Deputy Chairman Alexander Basha that unknown vandals desecrated a Holocaust memorial located on the exist of Konstantinovka village.

The anti-Semites places car tires in different parts of the memorial and set fire to them, apparently with the help of a plastic bottle of incendiary mixture.[68].

On Saturday, September 5, a group of provocateurs in Uman attempted to dismantle the tent camping area erected to help prepare for the traditional Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) Hasidic mass pilgrimage to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.

A group of approximately 30 people began to take apart the fence around the camp, using the passiveness of the police to their advantage. Surveillance cameras and power lines were also damaged in the attack. The group was led by Vladimir Goncharuk, Sergei Alekseenko, and Oleg Voloshin. Anti-Semitic statements and threats were heard from the group as the act took place[69].

Thanks to the timely intervention of the Ambassador of Israel to Ukraine and high-ranking officials from the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, the situation was brought under control and further incidents did not take place. The Rosh Hashana pilgrimage, which in 2015 took place on September 13-14, passed without incident.

September 6, yet another act of vandalism was discovered against the “Menorah” memorial in the “Babiy Yar” State Historical and Cultural Preserve. The “Menorah” commemorates Jews killed during the Holocaust. Unknown vandals drew a swastika on a stone at the foot of the memorial[70].

On September 13, the night before the Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) celebration, the “Menorah” memorial in Babiy Yar was desecrated yet again. The act of vandalism took place between two and three A.M., and the perpetrators remain unknown. The vandals piled tires on and around the memorial, doused them in an incendiary mixture and set them aflame. The fire was noticed and put out by the caretaker of a nearby church belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Patriarchy[71].

Notably, a similar desecration (utilizing car tires and incendiary mixture to set fire to a Holocaust memorial) took place three weeks earlier in Melitopol (see bulletin for August for details).

On October 5, criminal proceedings were opened by the Shevchenko District Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kyiv after a fact check had been completed on the arson attempt. The crime was qualified according to Article 296, Part 1 (“hooliganism”) of the Ukrainian Criminal Code.[72].

The sheer scale of vandalism in Babiy Yar and the obvious absence of adequate action by the government has garnered a wide resonance and drew the ire of Jewish organizations both within and outside of Ukraine.

Various Jewish groups and international organizations adopted statements and calls for the Ukrainian government to punish the vandals and protect the memorial and cultural preserve[73].

On the night of September 18, unknown vandals set fire to the ohel (a structure built over the grave of a righteous person, used for prayer) of a tsaddik at the Memorial Jewish Cemetery in Kolomyia (Ivano-Frankivsk Region). The fire was noticed and put out by a police patrol that had been passing by.

A night earlier, criminals cut down and stole the wrought iron gate from the cemetery’s fence[74].

The police instigated criminal proceedings according to Article 194 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (“willful destruction or endamagement of property”). The local Jewish community promised a reward of 10 thousand hrivnyas to anyone who could help find the criminals that desecrated the holy site.

The National Minority Rights Monitoring Group investigated the context of the incident, which greatly helped elucidate its causes.

The 1,4 ha plot of land on which the Memorial Jewish Cemetery is located is part of a town park. The cemetery itself has stood practically demolished since Soviet times. Over twenty years ago, the town council decided that this plot of land is a “memorial cemetery territory” (according to town council decision #86, “On providing local enterprises and organizations with plots of land”). The Kolomyia Orthodox Jewish community was given permission to develop a project to improve the memorial cemetery’s territory.

It took a long time to find funds for the restoration project, but finally the community was able to collect enough donations from private sources in different countries, prepare the project, and start the work. According to the project, the cemetery will be well-lit, the asphalt pathways will be replaced with stone-block paving, and the territory will house many trees. “Walls of memory” will stand alongside the pathways, containing preserved framents of matzevahs - tombstones. Approximately 1300 matzevahs in varying conditions were found across the city. In the Soviet Union they were used for paving streets and courtyards.

Before starting repairs, the community notified the city council that it is planning to close off access to the cemetery. The community planned to open the territory to the public in two years, once the renovation would have been finished. However, the town council insists that the community did not get the renovation project approved and had no right to close off the park.

On Thursday, September 17, the community closed off passage through the cemetery, notifying the locals with the following signs: “Passage to cemetery closed from 17.09.2015 to 01.10.2017 for renovations and to ensure the safety of visitors.” Many of the city’s residents were indignant. The park is more than just a customary place for rest and relaxation - for those who live on Leontovich street it is also the shortest way home. As far as the monitoring team was able to establish, the community made no attempts to reach out to the locals beforehand. Community hearings, formally mandatory in such cases, were not held either[75].

People sharply expressed their displeasure at the blocking off of the park on social networks. Some were puzzled: “That place has not been in use as a cemetery for a hundred years now! The park has nothing to remind that it had once been a burial ground, why did they bring tombstones from all over the city into it?” “Kikes can go back to their Israel and block off whatever they want there,” others said indignantly. Still others called for action: “As far as I understand, they cut off their “Holy land” so that no Ukrainian could set foot on it. How about we cut off holy Ukrainian land so that no kike could set foot on it!” [76].

In this context, the logic of the unknown vandals, who first used an angle grinder and an autogenous welder to remove the wrought iron gates, which lead into the park from the side of the lake, and then set fire to the ohel the next night, becomes clear.

The community decided not to block off the park during the renovation project[77].

On September 29 it became known that the memorial to the street cleaner Rom in Uzhgorod had been vandalized.[78]. Unknown hooligans first bent, then broke off the handle of the broom the sculpture had been holding, and also poured paint over the memorial.

The memorial had been erected on September 3 near a district where many Romani live[79]. Some of the Romani community have also had mixed reactions to the memorial since the moment it had been opened. The activists sharply protested against the very idea of forcefully associating the Romani with the low-status and menial labor of the street cleaner[80].

On the evening of October 4, unknown vandals desecrated a memorial plaque in Lutsk, commemorating the uprising of Jews in the ghetto in 1942. The anti-Semites poured blue paint over the plaque[81] and wrote “die kikes” on it.

By the next morning, the writing had already been painted over.

The memorial plaque had been installed on the walls of the teachers college (formerly the Gliklikh Jewish gymnasium), where the Jews of the ghetto began their rebellion, in December 2012 at the initiative of the Volyn Progressive Judaism religious community. The community did not file a statement with the police[82].

On the night of November 3, unknown vandals set fire to the ohel (a structure built over the grave of a righteous person, used for prayer) at the Memorial Jewish Cemetery in Kolomyia (Ivano-Frankivsk region) for the second time in two months. The ohel stands at the grave of the tsaddik Gillel Boruch Liechtenstein, who had been Kolomiya’s head rabbi in the XIX century, [83]

The fire began at approximately 3AM. A bottle with incendiary mixture was apparently used by the arsonists. Fire damage to the pavillion has been severe.

The first arson attempt took place on the night of September 18,[84]. And the restoration of the pavillion cost 50 thousand hrivnyas.[85].

In early November, memorials to victims of Nazism in Poltava had been vandalized with anti-Semitic slogans.

One of the vandalized memorials was the “Grieving Mother,” located in Pushkarevsky Park. During the occupation, approximately 15 thousand Jews and thousands of other civilians, resistance members, and Soviet prisoners of war were shot in that park. The memorial was erected in 1967. The vandal smeared the face of the memorial with blue paint and drew a caricature gallows pole with a little man signed “Waltzman,” which is the apellative by which anti-Semites who oppose President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko call the Ukrainian Head of State.

The memorial had been attacked by anti-Semites multiple times before. The memorial had been previously vandalized in 2001, 2010, 2013, and finally in January 2014.

Moreover, a separate “Jewish” memorial to Holocaust victims was also vandalized in a similar manner (using blue and yellow paint with the same drawing and signature)[86].

The graffiti had been painted over by workers of the Jewish Chesed Charity Foundation. As far as we know, no statement with the police was filed[87].

Similar and identical graffiti had been found in the city center, obviously drawn by the same hand. Besides identical drawings, “Death to Kikes!” is also written in several place[88].

Chronicle of Vandalism Motivated by National and Religious Hatred in the Occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea

In early May, a memorial to Azerbaijani soldiers who had participated in the liberation of Sevastopol from the Fascists had been vandalized[89].

On May 23, vandals destroyed a memorial to the deported Crimean Tatars that stood near the foot of Eklizi Burun. After breaking off the tamga, the national symbol of the Crimean Tatars, the vandals threw the memorial piece off a cliff.

The Memorial to the Deported had been erected in 2014, before the anniversary of the Deportation of the Crimean Tatar People, by a public interest group using their own money[90].

On the night of July 24, a Crimean Tatar grave marker, erected two months ago at the Schebetovka village of the Feodosia Region of the occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea, had been destroyed.

The stone was erected on May 18 to commemorate the life of a 17th century saint who had lived in that village and was famous for healing children. The place had been a site of pilgrimage. People had turned to the police after discovering the act of vandalism, but the police refused to opem criminal proceedings, citing the fact that the memorial had not been on the balance sheet of Schebetovka village.

The police proposed that the memorial could have just fallen by itself due to strong winds. According to data we have, the region had not had any recent strong winds at the time.[91].

On October 21, unknown vandals in Koreiz poured yellow paint over a memorial plaque to the victims of the 1944 deportation.[92]

According to a report by the Spiritual Direction of the Muslims of Crimea (SDMC), unknown vandals broke into a mosque at the Zhigulina Roscha microdistrict near Simferopol on November 5 and trashed the premises. According to the SDMC PR Department, the door had apparently been opened by a crowbar. There were no valuables in the mosque, and nothing was taken save the alarm battery[93].

On the night of November 13, unknown vandals broke two windows in the mosque of the Zavet-Leninskiy village of the Dzhankoy region. This was reported by the Chairman of the Dzhankoy Regional Mejlis Rustem Ennanov. According to Ennanov, the damage was first found by locals, who called the police on the next day, November 14[94].

On December 10, it became known that the word “jackals” had been painted in large red letters on a sign showing the way to a memorial honoring Turkish soldiers who died in the Crimean war.[95]. The sign is near the road to Sevastopol that goes through Mount Sapun.

As far as can be inferred, this was a way the vandals tried to show solidarity for the anti-Turkish campaign which the Russian media began as a response to the Turkish military bringing down a Russian military plane, which had been bombing Syria near the Syria-Turkey border on November 24, 2015, and which had violated Turkish airspace.

On December 24, unknown vandals in Kirovskoye town used black and red paint to draw graffiti on the walls and roll-up doors of shops belonging to Crimean Tatrs. According to our information, three of the ten shops situated on that street belong to Crimean Tatars, and it was these shops which had been vandalized.

The vandals wrote in English: “God hates you,” “Leave, you bastards,” “I hate you,” and “You are born and die in lies”[96].

Chronicle of Homophobic Violence

In early 2015, [97] and Kyiv[98] several members of the LGBT community were murdered in Kharkiv. This refers to robberies commited by casual acquaintances who had been invited to visit the homes of the victims. The robberies were violent, and in some cases, the owners of the houses were murdered as well. It would not be too far-fetched to suppose that many similar incidents that did not end in murder were not made public because the victims avoided going to the police in fear of a negative reaction from the police workers themselves. They also sought to keep their sexual orientation private. According to one expert from the LGBTI community, “a robber or hooligan can assume that if his victim is a homosexual, they will not resist or will not turn to the police afterwards out of fear of disclosing their sexual orientation”[99].

The LGBTI community was specifically targeted for these crimes. However, as far as can be determined, the perpetrators’ motivation for these crimes was profit, not hatred towards homosexuals. The choice of victim is in these cases a rational estimate, and an estimate which paid off. Homosexuals who look for one night stands are merely convenient victims for criminals. Even though the media sometimes interpret these as homophobic crimes, we believe that it would be incorrect to qualify similar incidents as hate crimes.

The OSCE approach [100]dictates that a crime is classified as a hate crime even if the motive of hate had not been the only one, or if the crime had been committed for the sake of pure profit, but the victim had been selected specifically because they belong to a particular group. For example, there is a common type of robbery where members are victims of the LBGTI community. The perpetrator looks for a victim on specialized websites, and once he has been invited to a careless new acquaintance’s home, he robs the victim, often with use of violence.[101]. Such crimes are not at their core motivated by homopobia, but by greed. The choice of victim is purely pragmatic—someone who had been robbed in such circumstances is unlikely to go to the police. The OSCE believes that these crimes are also hate crimes. We, however, do not agree. We believe that hate crimes are crimes in which hatred for a certain group is the main motivation. In these cases, unless we have additional evidence that suggests otherwise, the motive is profit. The victim is selected from a certain group, but not because the perpetrator is intolerant towards that group. It is a rational decision to select a vulnerable victim. For much the same reasons, robbers also target foreigners in general (and not just Asians and Africans), buyers of drugs, and those who go to prostitutes.

On May 12, the LGBT portal Gay Alliance Ukraine reported that a volunteer of the local LGBT center QueerHome had been murdered in his own home. The murder is currently being investigated. “Gay Alliance Ukraine” has stated its intent to send a request to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to “adequately investigate a possible homophobic motive for the murder and either confirm or disprove the possibility.”[102].

A March of Equality (sometimes mistakenly referred to as a “gay pride parade”) had been anounced for June 6, as part of the International Festival and Forum “KyivPride - 2015.” The aim of the march had been to draw attention to human rights issues concerning the LGBTI community.

As in previous years, the preparation for the march had been accompanied by intense homophobic propaganda by national-radical groups and political powers. This year, the Right Sector took upon itself the mantle of the main public organizer of resistance to the march.

A week before the event, the Banderivets website (the official homepage of the Stepan Bandera Tryzub organization, which became the base for the Right Sector movement) published a statement that the organization will do everything within its power to put a stop to the march of “perverts.”[103]. The leader of the Right Sector, MP Dmytro Yarosh, also made a homophobic statement, wherein he harshly condemned the activities of Ukraine’s LGBTI community.[104].

Before the March, a number of politicians and public officials spoke out with their evaluations of the event, which were quite diverse. The mayor of Kyiv, Vitaliy Klitschko, asked the organizers to refrain from holding the March, because “this is not a good time—not right now, with war in the east of Ukraine.” One of the slogans of the event became a response to that kind of argument: “Human rights are always important.” The mayor of Kyiv generally spoke in somewhat hazy terms. In particular, he called for one group (which can be inferred to be the organizers) “not to play into the enemy’s hands, not to incite hatred, and to refrain from creating yet another standoff in the center of the capital,” and addressed other political powers (who can be inferred to be opponents of the March) with a request “not to pull dubious publicity stunts and speculate on minority rights.”[105].

On the other hand, the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, supported the constitutional rights of the organizers at a pres conference. In response to a question asked about the March, he replied: “I see this both as a Christian and as the President of a European country. To me, both of these notions are absolutely united [in their stand on the matter at hand -transl.]. I will not be participating, if that’s your question, but I see no reason for anyone to obstruct the event—[holding] it is the constitutional right of citizens. [...] I do not share the indignation of the political groups who want to make it into their own publicity campaign. It is not a topic for publicity campaigns. I am certain that if the march does take place, the law enforcement bodies will be able to ensure its safety.”[106].

To ensure the safety of the participants, the place of the march had not been made public until the last possible moment. However, due to a technical problem which held up the beginning of the event, many raidcal right activists, who had been mobilized in advance, had time to enact provocations. The police, who were protecting the event, did not allow the national-extremists to come close, but the radicals threw weak makeshift bombs at the column, filled with small projectiles. One of the police workers had been severely injured as the subprojectiles hit him in the neck[107].

After the March was over, radical right activists attacked participants who had been home, particularly near the Obolon metro station. The police and the national-radicals clashed constantly, and the most active extremists were arrested. According to unofficial information of the organizators, seven of the arrested national-radicals were charged with hooliganism. Approximately 20 participants of the March were hurt, as were several random passersby[108].

The organizators and activists received multiple threats even after the event had passed.

On July 13, former Right Sector MP candidate Oleg Kutserib posted on Facebook that he and his son armed themselves with baseball bats and attacked two men near the entrance to his own house, having decided that they are “faggots.” Two “sympathizers” were also harmed. According to Kutserib, his victims will “spend no less than two weeks at the hospital.”[109].

On July 20, at approximately 4 AM, a grenade was set off near the Odesa “Libertine” club, which has a reputation for being gay-friendly. A security guard was wounded; he was hospitalized with a shrapnel wound on his hip.[110].

On July 22, the “Bird in Flight” journal publised a video recording of a social experiment, [111]during which two young men took a stroll through Kyiv holding hands. On Khreschatik Street [the main street of Kyiv. -transl.], one of the young men sat down on a bench, and the other sat on his knees. Approximately 6-7 young men approached them and, after a short but heated argument, began beating the participants of the experiment.

The queer culture festival “Odessa Pride-2015” took place from August 14 to August 16. The organizators originally planned a public March of Equality as part of the festival, to have been held on August 15.[112].

However, on August 12, the Executive Committee of the Odesa City Council filed a claim with the Odesa Regional Administrative Court against the chairman of the “Odessa Pride-2015” organizational committee. The city council was also backed up by the Odesa City Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Odesa region. The claimant requested that the court restrict the right to peaceful gatherings of the “Odessa Pride-2015” Organizational Committee in the person of its Chairman by forbidding any sorts of mass public events from August 13 to August 16, including gatherings, rallies, pickets, marches, demonstrations, and any other kind of peaceful gathering on Odesa’s streets. The city council’s arguments included an adversarial attitude among the residents of the city towards the upcoming event as well as the high risk of violence towards participants of the march and the possible disturbance of public order during the event.[113].

On the next day, August 13, the court prohibited holding the March of Equality in Odesa.

On August 15, the premises of the Queer Home Odessa community center, where the “Odessa Pride-2015” festival was being held, were attacked. A group of youths, likely members of the radical right,[114] gathered near the building. According to the festival’s spokesperson Kirill Bodelan, a group of young people in masks and camouflage forced its way onto the premises. Two of them threw firecrackers near the entrance to the premises, and one made his way inside and threw a detonating cartridge into the hall. The attackers were able to get away. The other young people continued to stay near the entrance to the building until they were led away by the police. According to Bodelan, none of the participants of the festival were harmed.

The Organizational Committee of the festival, “the attack on the LGBT community center was made by a marginal, extremist group”; however, they also stated that they are not viewing this as “an act of aggression from right-wing national groups, or any other patriotic and religious groups.”[115].

On August 16, the All-Ukrainian “Svoboda” Union political party took responsibility for attempting to obstruct the opening of the “Odessa Pride-2015” fesitval. According to the PR department of the Odessa regional branch of “Svoboda,” 13 party activists and members of its youth organization were arrested for, we quote, “being present near the LGBT festival.”[116].

On the night of August 29, the Cleopatra cafe in Kryvyi Rih (Dniepropetrovsk Region), where a closed LGBT party was being held, was attacked by unidentified persons. At around 2:00 AM, approximately 20 people wearing masks forced their way into the cade and beat the guests of the party. Some were wearing T-shirts with Right Sector symbols. According to the Gay Alliance of Ukraine, the police, after having been called to the scene of the incident, let the attackers go without even attempting to identify them, with the notable exception of one of the leaders of the Kryvyi Rih “Automaidan” (group that originally used its heightened mobility, due to being car owners, to patrol cities for protection from the titushki thugs during the Maidan. -transl), who motivated the actions of the attackers by the idea that “the participants of this party are corrupting minors.”[117].

On the evening of August 30, at approximately 8:30 PM, a group of unidentified people in masks attacked the Queer Home Krivbas community center. They threw smoke grenades into the building and ransacked it. One of the guests was seriously beaten and had to be hospitalized.[118]. It later became known that the police opened criminal proceedings, qualifying the incident as “intended minor bodily injury”[119].

On the evening of September 14, four unknown attackers beat Nick Carter and an anonymous friend of his. Nick Carter had often publicly defended the rights of the LGBT community. The attack happened near the address: 10 Obolonsky prospekt. According to the victim, four persons attacked them at approximately 10 PM when they were returning home from the local store. The attackers were shouting homophobic slurs. N. Carter took severe damage to the face, and his companion got a concussion.

The victims were given medical aid, and they filed a statement for the police about the incident[120].

[1] Information provided by the Diversity Initiative Network

[2] http://khpg.org.ua/index.php?id=1434748667

[3] http://dozor.kharkov.ua/news/crime/1162987.html

[4] http://www.mvs.gov.ua/mvs/control/main/uk/publish/article/1517305;jsessionid=BF7C4FBF5B573576B118A41484EDE1BB

[5] http://khpg.org/index.php?id=1434244542

[6] http://atn.ua/proisshestviya/nochnaya-reznya-v-studgorodke-podrobnosti-chp

[7] http://dozor.kharkov.ua/news/crime/1163002.html

[8] https://vk.com/golos_nacii_partyzan?w=wall-71654309_79167 Currently, the community has been banned for calls to violence.

[9] http://banderivets.org.ua/psy-rezhymu-zatrymaly-harkiv-yan-yaki-provchyly-znahabnilyh-chuzhyntsiv.html

[10] http://www.057.ua/news/897447

[11] http://www.ukrinform.ua/rus/news/nalivaychenko_uvidel_v_harkovskoy_drake_ruku_rossii_1754376

[12] http://khpg.org/index.php?id=1434368714

[13] http://dozor.kharkov.ua/news/crime/1163421.html

[14] http://nahnews.org/271402-avakov-vs-prokuratura-kto-i-zachem-pokryvaet-prestupleniya-radikalov/

[15] http://dozor.kharkov.ua/news/authority/1163684.html

[16] http://dozor.kharkov.ua/news/authority/1164493.html

[17] http://ru.golos.ua/crime/militsiya_harkova_nashla_vinovnyih_v_napadenii_na_studentov_5694

[18] http://khar.gp.gov.ua/ua/news.html?_m=publications&_c=view&_t=rec&id=167175. See also: http://khpg.org.ua/index.php?id=1451002950

[19] http://khpg.org.ua/index.php?id=1434748667

[20] http://mtrk.com.ua/news/28011-2015-07-08-11-46-41.html

[21] Information provided by Alexandra Sverdlova (“No Borders!” project of the Social Action Center).

[22] http://dozor.kharkov.ua/news/crime/1165803.html

[23] https://youtu.be/idLcG-eAPnI.

[24] http://dt.ua/UKRAINE/harkivski-milicioneri-prinizili-i-pobili-afrikancya-183755_.html

[25] http://nbnews.com.ua/ua/news/169562/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[26] https://www.facebook.com/galina.uzu/posts/974093945946598

[27] http://www.mvs.gov.ua/mvs/control/kyiv/uk/publish/article/226577

[28] https://www.facebook.com/nmrmg/posts/539974366169330

[29] See: http://ru-an.info/Photo/QNews/n20347/3.jpg

[30] https://www.facebook.com/1406145632985624/photos/a.1428577800742407.1073741829.1406145632985624/1608742102725975/

[31] http://www.ombudsman.gov.ua/ua/all-news/pr/21815-pc-vidkrite-zvernennya-upovnovazhenogo-verxovnoii-radi-ukraiini-z-prav-l/

[32] https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1365&v=KsCJzMZdurE

[33] http://www.mvs.gov.ua/mvs/control/kyiv/uk/publish/article/227355

[34] http://izrus.co.il/dvuhstoronka/article/2015-09-17/28846.html

[35] http://jewishnews.com.ua/ru/publication/izrailytyanin_amir_ohan_propavshiy_okolo_umani_nayden_mertvim

[36] http://ru.tsn.ua/ukrayina/vozle-umani-nashli-mertvym-propavshego-bez-vesti-hasida-490014.html

[37] http://izrus.co.il/dvuhstoronka/article/2015-09-17/28853.html

[38] http://izrus.co.il/dvuhstoronka/article/2015-09-17/28853.html

[39] The incidents were recorded by the “Football against racism in Europe” (Fare) network as part of its system of monitoring discrimination at international soccer competitions. For details of their monitoring system, see: http://www.farenet.org/get-involved/report-discrimination/observer-scheme-faq/ . The video recording of the incident was first published by the Guardian website. See: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/21/uefa-investigate-attack-black-fans-dynamo-kyiv-chelsea

[40] http://2plus2.ua/video/article/svidki-rozpovili-podrobici-biyki-na-matchi-dinamo-chelsi-1-385031350.html

[41] http://humanrights.org.ua/material/sport_i_diskriminacija_ujefa_skazhe_svoje_slovo_pro_napad_na_temnoshkirih_ubolivalnikiv_a_spilnichenko_ne_govoriv_pro_okremi_sektori

[42] http://www.depo.ua/ukr/sport/vitse-prezident-dinamo-pobittya-temnoshkirih-faniv---provokatsiya-22102015145100

[43] http://footclub.com.ua/news/Turniry/Liga-chempionov/62060802/Kochetov-o-polojitelnyh-momentah-v-rassledovanii-incidentov-na-matche-Dinamo-Chelsi

[44] http://www.president.gov.ua/news/krayina-potrebuye-peremog-i-ya-viryu-u-vashu-peremogu-prezid-36347

[45] http://bykvu.com/home/mysli/14781/pomoshchnik-nardepa-i-millitsioner-uchastvovali-v-napadenii-na-temnokozhikh-vo-vremya-matcha-dinamo-chelsi.html

[46] http://www.hromadske.tv/society/uyefa-pokaralo-dinamo-provedennyam-2-domashnikh-ma/

[47] http://korrespondent.net/sport/football/3604999-ustanovlen-odyn-yz-uchastnykov-draky-na-matche-dynamo-chelsy

[48] Information provided by the Diversity Initiative Network

[49] Information provided by the Diversity Initiative Network.

[50] The information was provided by the victim. We also have information that the victim had been hurt during a conflict between two groups of young people, but we have no reason to mistrust the victim’s statement that the conflict began with anti-Semitic slurs. See: http://www.mukachevo.net/ua/News/view/136327

[51] The information was provided by Boris Glazunov, the Babiy Yar Preserve director.

[52] http://censor.net.ua/news/321637/v_babem_yaru_hram_upts_zabrosali_kokteyilyami_molotova

[53] https://www.facebook.com/notes/882205828490454/; http://podrobnosti.ua/1013714-v-babem-jaru-vandaly-narisovali-na-pamjatnom-kamne-svastiku.html

[54] http://eajc.org/page16/news50024.html

[55] http://kiev.segodnya.ua/kaccidents/v-kieve-vzorvalsya-osvetitelnyy-patron-probilo-kryshu-kioska-s-shaurmoy-598939.html

[56] http://www.eajc.org/page16/news50603.html

[57] http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=58619

[58] http://trassae95.com/all/news/2015/04/27/vandaly-oskvernili-pamyatnyj-znak-zhertvam-fashizma-v-odesse-foto-22436.html

[59] http://www.eajc.org/page16/news51603.html

[60] https://youtu.be/cr21uc17sbg

[61] http://eajc.org/page16/news51874.html

[62] http://www.eajc.org/page16/news52033.html

[63] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0%2c7340%2cL-4672805%2c00.html

[64] http://izrus.co.il/diasporaIL/article/2015-07-01/28130.html

[65] http://jewishkiev.com.ua/novosti-foruma/evrejskij-forum-ukrainy-gotovit-novoe-zayavlenie.html

[66] http://transkarpathianews.net/crime/15994-bda-priyshla-na-yevreyske-kladovische-vandali-rozgromili-nadgrobn-pliti.html

[67] https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=866625013420369&id=100002186364769

[68] http://eajc.org/page16/news52557.html

[69] https://www.facebook.com/tzviarieli/posts/10206254643258285; см. также: http://www.unn.com.ua/uk/news/1498086-zhiteli-umani-demontuvali-ogorozhu-nametovogo-mistechka-dlya-khasidiv

[70] https://www.facebook.com/nmrmg/photos/a.301261026707333.1073741828.293839707449465/533998416766925/

[71] http://www.eajc.org/page16/news52661.html

[72] Information provided by the “No Borders!” project of the Social Action Center.

[73] http://eajc.org/page16/news52672.html

[74] http://www.eajc.org/page16/news52728.html

[75] http://www.eajc.org/page16/news52732.html; see also: http://visty.in.ua/news/kolomyia/news_9177/

[76] See, for example: https://www.facebook.com/groups/kolomyia.ua/permalink/438043116381468/?__mref=message

[77] See, for example: https://youtu.be/ggH0YpzNuvo

[78] http://goloskarpat.info/society/560a76648c408/

[79] http://goloskarpat.info/society/55e86fe14d063/

[80] http://goloskarpat.info/analytics/55e9942f0ff24/

[81] https://www.facebook.com/nmrmg/photos/a.301261026707333.1073741828.293839707449465/553902721443161/

[82] As reported by Chairman of the Volyn Progressive Judaism religious community Sergey Shvardovsky.

[83] http://eajc.org/page16/news53065.html

[84] http://eajc.org/page16/news52728.html

[85] The eajc.org website has previously investigated the situation of the Kolomiya Jewish cemetery, which may partially explain the anti-Semitic incidents. Se: http://eajc.org/data//file/Monitoring_Eng/monitoring_eng_0915.pdf

[86] https://www.facebook.com/nmrmg/posts/558116111021822

[87] http://kolo.poltava.ua/reaktsiya-gromadi/u-poltavi-vandali-znovu-splyundruvali-pamyatnik-skorbotna-matir-29323.html

[88] http://vyacheslav-likhachev.blogspot.co.il/2015/11/blog-post_22.html

[89] http://ru.krymr.com/content/news/27011417.html

[90] http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2015/05/23/7068821/

[91] https://www.facebook.com/nmrmg/photos/a.301261026707333.1073741828.293839707449465/513497938816973/?type=1&permPage=1

[92] http://ru.krymr.com/content/news/27318458.html

[93] http://news.allcrimea.net/news/2015/11/5/neizvestnye-ustroili-pogrom-v-mecheti-pod-simferopolem-48194/

[94] http://ua.krymr.com/content/news/27366851.html

[95] https://www.facebook.com/ragim.gumbatov/posts/1032435046778829

[96] http://15minut.org/article/ksenofobiya-prodolzhaet-raspolzatsya-po-krymu-2015-12-24-22-53-40

[97] http://mvs.gov.ua/mvs/control/kharkiv/uk/publish/article/144383

[98] http://kiev.segodnya.ua/kaccidents/v-kieve-zaderzhali-muzhchin-kotorye-zhestoko-ubili-geya-587916.html

[99] http://vk.com/wall269074410_4990

[100] See: Розумiння поняття «злочини на грунтi ненавистi»: Посiбник для України – OCSE ODIHR, (“Understanding “Hate Crime”: Handbook for Ukraine – OCSE ODIHR”) Warsaw, 2015. (http://www.osce.org/uk/odihr/208186?download=true). P. 7–11. See also: Законодательство против преступлений на почве ненависти: практическое руководство / Бюро ОБСЕ по демократическим институтам и правам человека. (“Hate Crime Laws: A Practical Guide - OSCE”) – Warsaw, 2009. P. 59–61; Ponomaryov S. Прогалини у сферi запобiгання, документування, розслiдування та притягненння до вiдповiдальностi осiб, винних у вчиненнi злочинiв на грунтi нетерпимостi. Аналитична записка. (“Gaps in preventing, documenting, investigating and prosecuting hate crimes. Analytical report.”) Кyiv, 2015. P .3–5.

[101] Some of these incidents are described below, in the “Homophobia” section.

[102] http://upogau.org/ru/inform/uanews/uanews_2223.html

[103] http://banderivets.org.ua/borotba-z-radykalnym-liberalizmom-zavzhdy-na-chasi.html

[104] http://banderivets.org.ua/pravyj-sektor-na-zahysti-pravdy-i-simejnyh-tsinnostej.html

[105] http://kiev.klichko.org/news/?id=1070

[106] http://www.segodnya.ua/politics/pnews/poroshenko-rasskazal-kak-otnositsya-k-provedeniyu-marsha-ravenstva-v-kieve-621435.html

[107] http://society.lb.ua/life/2015/06/06/307427_marsh_ravenstva_ohranyali_2_tis.html

[108] http://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/society/2015/06/150606_march_injured_dk

[109] The statement had been posted at the following URL: https://www.facebook.com/kucerub/posts/900466533366347 . However, later it had been either deleted or closed off to the general public. The editors of the bulletin have a screenshot of the post at their disposal.

[110] http://humanrights.org.ua/material/v_odeskomu_gejklubi_libertin_stavsja_vibuh

[111] https://youtu.be/iH_GWYuDNjw

[112] http://otkat.od.ua/prajd-2015-vmesto-gej-parada-odessu-zhdyot-celyj-gej-uikend/

[113] http://korrespondent.net/ukraine/3550765-sud-zapretyl-provedenye-hei-parada-v-odesse

[114] The man who came up to the participants of the festival to “warn” (i.e. threaten) them showed them symbols of the Right Sector.

[115] https://www.facebook.com/OdessaPride/posts/1642413062638268

[116] http://www.unian.net/society/1112082-svoboda-vzyala-na-sebya-otvetstvennost-za-sryiv-otkryitiya-festivalya-kvir-kulturyi-v-odesse.html#ad-image-0

[117] http://humanrights.org.ua/material/u_krivomu_rozi_napali_na_uchasnikiv_lgbtvechirki

[118] http://upogau.org/ru/inform/uanews/uanews_2680.html

[119] https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=912721152108676&set=a.182158688498263.40230.100001123986754

[120] http://upogau.org/ru/inform/uanews/uanews_2743.html

Human Rights (HR), International news, Jewish Culture, UCSJ Member, UCSJ Report, UCSJ Statement, UkraineucsjMarch 25, 2016Comment