The Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has launched a criminal inquiry into the "nationalization" of the Artek international children's center, the press service of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has reported.
“Despite the specific working environment, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea will take all possible measures to prevent violations and [to secure] justice for the violated rights of individuals and legal entities,” reads a statement issued by the PGO press service.
According to the statement, illegally formed local governmental agencies in occupied Crimea carry out what they call “nationalization” of enterprises, establishments and organizations owned by Ukraine.
“On April 1, 2015, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea launched pre-trial criminal proceedings into the misappropriation of Ukraine’s largest center for children – the state-owned Artek international children’s center – by officials of an illegally formed Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea, who transferred the property to illegal Russian ownership (Part 5 of the Article 191 of the Criminal code of Ukraine),” the press service said.
The press service added that the so-called nationalization inflicted considerable property and financial damage on Ukraine.
The Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the legal successor to the pre-occupation prosecutor’s office and is now part of Ukraine’s PGO. On March 25, 2014, the illegal Crimean occupation authorities created the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Crimea, as part of the illegal occupation of Crimea by Russia.
