How the case of poisoning of peasants near Vyshgorod by “Gavrilovsky chickens” was dismissed

“Agromars” – it is a sad story. That case has simply overflowed the cup of patience. Storks fly to these fields. Flies are like sparrows. The blood of slaughtered birds flows into the Irpin River, ”said Oleksandr Lupeyko, a lawyer and expert at the International Fund «Risk Reduction» ,at a recent press conference on the anniversary of the once resonant «Agromars case».

We will remind that one and a half years ago, in the fall of 2017 employees of the Agromars company («the Gavrilovsky chickens «trademark) took out and buried waste and carcasses of birds in the Kalancha tract in the Vyshgorodsky area. “Due to the de-energization of the broiler poultry farm, the ventilation system was shut down, which led to the suffocation and death of a large number of birds that were at the plant,” – so it is written in the materials of the criminal case on environmental poisoning, which police were able to investigate and bring to justice. The suspicion dated June 6, 2018 indicates that as a result of violation of the rules of environmental safety by the employees of «Agromars Complex «LLC, the state suffered losses of UAH 253.82 million ($9 million).

But a year has passed. What do we have? And we have a “dismission ” of the criminal case and its descent on the brakes. Activists and residents of the surrounding villages demand that the case be brought to a logical conclusion – to the verdict of the guilty. But they can hardly do anything. Although, there is still an opportunity to obtain compensation for victims of civil lawsuits.

Oleg Pokrasion, the village head of Gavrylivka, the village that is closest to “Agromars “and the landfill, said that the 160 tons of deaths documented in November 2017 were only part of the waste. “The indicator was taken from only one poultry complex. And on the territory of the village of Gavrylivka there are eighteen sites (poultry complexes ). Only one place was documented, according to others, the result was not taken at all”, Mr. Pokrasion said.

There is a very interesting question, Pokrasion said: why couldn’t the carcasses be disposed of when the accident happened? After all, such cases should be foreseen in such production. In this case, these spoiled carcasses had to be processed in the bio-impurities department, which is located near the slaughterhouse.

“This branch was put into operation in October 2017. Oblecology (Department of Ecology of the Regional State Administration) gave permits. Various data on the capacity of the department were called. 193 tons – the data were given to the regional state administration, then there were figures of 190 tons. That is, if it really was 160 tons, it could be processed. But! Already at the time of the accident, the bio-impurity shop was not working! – the village head notes. – Why does this happen at all? Many regulatory bodies – the State Ecological Inspection , the State Consumer Service, the police. And we have to rake it all ourselves. Why are our activists looking for ravines and streams where the company dumps waste, then digs up and opens criminal cases? Now some law enforcement agencies tell us that nothing happened. How could it not be? People feel the stench – it reaches Voronkivka and Sinyak – one and a half and four km away. The stench comes from the map (map – the site, the area where the waste is buried ),Which is on treatment plants. What is poured there – I do not know, it’s not just compost, there is a smell of rot. Compost usually does not have such a smell.

Local communities have submitted many petitions and appeals. They appealed to the local People’s Deputy of Ukraine in this majority constituency Yaroslav Moskalenko (chairman of the “People’s Will “parliamentary group), to the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Ostap Semerak, but received no answer.

“I lived in Gavrylivka for 8 years. I found an ecologically clean village. It all started when privatization took place. Kalancha is a tract where in 2007 bird carcasses, fat, etc. were exported. I have a digital video of that time on YouTube, where everything is clearly visible. Meat buried in the ground can lie for 2-3 years, it poisons groundwater. The light clusters in the video are feathers. There are no permits of SES (sanitary epidemiological station), nothing. It was difficult for us to get there and film, because the guards made sure that no one could get to that place, – said at the meeting the deputy of Vyshhorod district council Iryna Pobidash. – Why did you manage to open a case? A new department has opened in the national police. The young guys wanted to do something new. We testified in a criminal case. There are people in the courtroom who helped with the investigation. Many illegal actions were recorded. But since the appellate court, attempts have been made on all sides to “overwhelm” the case. Although even after the investigation, I and the activists still recorded violations. They do not repent. ”

In June 2018, the court decided to detain the owners of “Agromars” holding Marina and Yevhen Sigaliv for two months. Or – to pay a deposit of 90 and 80 million UAH. in accordance. A similar decision was made by one of “Agromars’” managers. But soon the Kyiv Court of Appeals reduced the amount of bail for the owners of Agromars 16 times – up to UAH 5 million. Later, the Dniprovsky District Court of Kyiv found Oleksiy Marchenko, executive director of “Agromars Complex”, and “Gavrylivsky Poultry Complex”, director of “Agromars”,guilty of violating environmental safety rules (Part 2, Article 28, Article 236 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and sentenced both of them to in the form of imprisonment for three years, but with a one-year reprieve, and they are currently at large.

According to deputy Pobidash, the criminal case was unfolding, but even on June 4, 2019, a new violation was recorded by Agromars, which the police did not record: “I went to Sinyak in the middle of the night. I have a video of black liquid being dumped past sewage treatment plants buried with a huge diameter pipe. A year ago, many of our opponents said that this was a squeeze of business, that it was done by competitors and people who were in power at the time. But we see that no one is squeezing anything. And then the support from the government would be serious, but it is not. People are afraid to testify. Neither the prosecutor’s office nor the police leadership allow investigators to work. ”
“Agromars” can talk about an abnormal situation (power outage ), but they must have emergency power substations!!! – Alexander Lupeyko noted. -The burial of dead birds and waste lasts for years! It’s just that the cup of patience has overflowed. The director who was present (Oleksiy Marchenko was present in the hall ) said “Let the bastard sniff”. Sigali were then released on bail. And we understood that the case would be dismissed”.

When this became apparent, the community obtained a psychological diagnosis,and immediately 300 villagers filed the appropriate litigations .”These people were recognized as victims, civil plaintiffs. Initially, there was official support for these lawsuits. But at the end of 2017, all plaintiffs received letters from the investigator refusing to recognize them as plaintiffs, although people already had such a status, – Lupeyko continues. – How can it be possible ??? The number of the decision to refuse was not named, but demanded secrecy, non-disclosure of this information. I went to the prosecutor’s office for three visits until I received these decisions, appealed them, and people regained their status”.

Then, according to the injured residents, Judge Vitaliy Pysanets of the Pechersk Court took up the case of removing the owners of “Agromars” from the investigation. He began to reconsider the decision of the previous court, which recognized the people as victims, allegedly under newly discovered circumstances.

On March 14, 2019 he announced a decision to overturn the previous court’s decision. Community lawyers dismissed the judge. On March 18, Pysants was taken away by his colleagues, and an application for an illegal decision was filed with the State Research Bureau and the SRB registered the proceedings. And on May 2, the new judge recognized the status of victims and civil plaintiffs for the peasants.

Burial ground that can be seen from a quadcopter

“All is well? Not at all. It turns out that the case of «Agromars» has already been sent to court. I seek the opportunity to see the case. I open – the scenario of merging of business is already realized. Instead of 7-12 years of punishment – only three, and even with a reprieve. And only for managers. The case was done very quickly, in a month. In the Dnieper district court. Why not at the crime scene? They should be considered in the Vyshhorod court. Thousands of people would come there. By the way, behind-the-scenes proceedings without victims are illegal. I managed to file an appeal, – Lupeyko noted. – But the Prosecutor General’s Office is not asleep either, and for the second time it is on the side of environmental polluters. Namely, he submits an application for review of Judge Novak’s decision. That is, that people were not recognized as victims. At the same time, the prosecutor’s office did not file a complaint against the sentence below the lower limit of punishment received by Agromars managers!”

The local community will further demand the greening of «Agromars», an independent eco-audit, and the development of greening complexes. It will ensure that people are compensated for the moral damage of living in the territory polluted by entrepreneurs. Moreover, Vyshhorod Hospital provided statistics – the growth of oncology in all groups. And, of course, to oblige the company to build sewage treatment plants to save the rivers Kizka and Irpin from complete destruction.

There is also the question of why such harmful enterprises also receive assistance from the state.
“Gavrilovsky chickens” – how was the business built? Whose funds were there? There are no answers from the authorities. Why did the state provide money from the state budget to such an enterprise? In 2013, they received UAH 50 million in compensation, in 2012 UAH 20 million. No answers. Buildings – on unallocated plots of agricultural land. Why? – No answers. Well, and not only “Agromars”.

In 2016, «Nasha Ryaba»( brand-leader of the Ukrainian chicken market )received UAH 1 billion from the state budget, but «Gavrylivsky Chickens» did not go unnoticed either. So, there is something to think about and something to work on, ”said Eduard Ryabiy, secretary of the Environmental Safety Council.
And what do the leaders of «Argormars” think? Oleksiy Marchenko, Executive Director of “Complex Agromars LLC”, came to the press conference and stated: “We offered to conduct an eco-examination, but it all comes down to talks.” To which the speakers replied that they were ready to conduct an eco-examination, but for some reason “Agromars” did not respond to their proposals.

Oleg Listopad

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