The number of raider attacks is still high in Ukraine, according to online data aggregator Opendatabot, which gathers open statistics from a range of sources, including Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s Office.
Ukrainian small- and medium-sized businesses were subjected to about 140 raider attacks in the first half of 2018.
Opendatabot on July 2 published statistics that show that since 2013, 1,700 raider attacks on businesses by law enforcement have been carried out in Ukraine. In 2017 there were around 400 cases, while in 2014, the year of the EuroMaidan Revolution, there were 230.
Only five of the cases have ever ended up before the court for the hearing.
The largest amount of raider attacks occurred in Kyiv Oblast and in the city of Kyiv itself, according to General Prosecutor’s Office. Businesses in the capital have been attacked 397 times. Dnipro (133) and Lviv (104) oblasts have the next highest rates.
Commenting on Opendatabot’s findings, lawyer and managing partner at Lazarev Partners Maxim Lazarev said even these statistics do not show how bad the picture really is, as most such attacks are typically not reported at all in government registers, as they are “covered up by corrupt law enforcement officers.”
Besides, according to Lazarev, in some cases criminal proceedings are initiated under other articles of the Criminal Code (such hooliganism, illicit arms use, and so on). Such cases may not be counted in the statistics, he said.
Editor’s Note: This story corrects the story published on July 2 at 6 p.m., which has been withdrawn.
