Ukraine: Protests in Dnipropetrovsk after arrest of party leader

Today’s UKROP demonstration in Dnipropetrovsk (above) was held under heavy security presence (below).

Gazeta reports:

The candidate for mayor of Dnipropetrovsk, member of the UKROP party Boris Filatov announced a “general mobilization” of the party, according to “Ukrainian Truth”.

Filatov called on party members, deputies and voters to gather at 19.00 MSK in front of the Dnipropetrovsk administration building.

“The party declares general mobilization … We have to talk about what to say to the enemy, “- he said.

He also said that there have been police searches of party members.

Earlier it was reported [see report below] that the SBU detained the right hand of  oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, Gennady Korban. He is suspected of embezzlement of funds for fighters of the ATO.

Korban, the 45-year-old ally of Dnepropetrovsk oligarch, ran [for mayor of Kiev in the recent local elections] for the new political project of Kolomoisky, the party “Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP” […]

Still from a security camera showing today’s SBU raid on UKROP’s offices in Dnepropetrovsk.

Earlier today Spunik International reported:

[…] Ukraine’s security service (SBU) arrested the leader of oligarch Igor Kolomoisky-funded UKROP party and Dnepropetrovsk mayoral candidate Gennady Korban on charges of organizing a criminal group on Saturday.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s allies and opponents have both called the arrest an act of political repression. Korban was a mayoral candidate in the Dnepropetrovsk mayoral elections on October 25, the results of which have still not been announced.

Poroshenko bloc member, Verkhovna Rada member Taras Batenko said that he would be leaving the bloc as a direct result of the arrest, which he called political repression.

“Usurpation begins with disregard for public opinion and ends with the appearance of political prisoners. Today the government made a decisive step toward the beginning of a new dictatorship,” Batenko wrote on his Facebook page.

While Ukraine continues police operations against Russian-speaking activists and advocates, this is the first time a Ukrainian nationalist party leader has been arrested by the post-coup government.

Korban’s lawyers called his arrest a kidnapping because Ukraine’s government has not provided them with information about the charges against him.

The SBU told media that Korban was arrested without charges, and that a court would decide his punishment. […]

Kolomoisky and Korban in 2014.

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