Maksym Holosny is doing a lot of running these days, literally and figuratively. He is running from law enforcement while simultaneously running for parliament.
Serving in previous years as a rural government official unknown to most Ukrainians, the 30-year old broke unto the national political stage after paying for a handful of billboard advertisements in the Yelyzavetivska region of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
Holosny’s anti-government billboard depicted a cat with a granny who says: “When I found out my grandson voted for the [pro-presidential] Party of Regions I rewrote [my will] to give my house to the cat [instead].”
Shortly after the billboard were taken down, but the picture and theme spread like wildfire on the internet. Hundreds of satirical memes mocking President Viktor Yanukovych’s party appeared on social networks.
But Holosny was no longer laughing. Local police issued a search warrant for him early this summer, roughly the same time he registered as a candidate for parliament in a Dnipropetrovsk single mandate contest.
Holosny has been hiding from law enforcement ever since, with little opportunity to campaign on the ground, face-to-face with his voters. He says his political ambitions are the reason behind his troubles with the law and that the investigation will be dropped once he withdraws his candidacy.
Some say this is an example of fear and intimidation that opposition and independent candidates in single mandate districts in the run-up to elections.
Commenting on Holosny’s situation, political analyst Oleksiy Haran said “the authorities are clearly trying to use all kinds of methods to sideline candidates (in single mandate constituencies) that they do not back.”
The election is scheduled for Oct. 28. Half of parliament’s 450 seats will be elected through closed party lists, where opposition parties are neck-to-neck with pro-presidential ones. The other half of seats will be chosen in 225 decisive single mandate contests.
Dnipropetrovsk police dismissed allegations that their probe into Holosny was linked to the election, explaining that the investigation dates back to last November. They said Holosny was charged this July with illegal appropriation of goods while heading Yelyzavetivka, a village in Dnipropetrovsk region. He faces up to four years imprisonment.
In a telephone interview with the Kyiv Post, Holosny said he landed in politics by chance. Several years ago he gave a prominent speech at a village council about solving local problems, after which he was encouraged to run for the village head. He won the local elections in October 2010, after working six years at his father’s architecture firm.
He headed the village for only 10 months, strongly opposing land reform, which he thinks would deprive rural people of their land. He said this made him a target for regional authorities, and that he was illegally voted out of office.
Holosny claimed he has a strong chance of getting elected to parliament. Recognizing this, pro-presidential authorities are, according to Holosny, trying to sideline him through prosecutions, investigations and possibly imprisonment.
“I was told by my sources in the police that once I remove my candidacy, the police will immediately drop the investigation,” he said.
Police maintain that when Holosny was head of Yelyzavetivka, he took into possession and never returned local council property worth Hr 4,500 ($560). The property includes a car, a laptop, a cell phone and coupons for petrol.
Holosny claims he is innocent, adding that the petty charges show authorities struggled to find any serious wrongdoing.
It is clear that the “case is fabricated,” he said.
Holosny admitted that he is still in possession of certain items from his days running the village, adding that he never thought of keeping them. He said he is keen to return them to the local council.
He has been in hiding since August after in late July the Dnipropetrovsk police put him on the wanted list to find and question him. Holosny claims his apartment and is potential whereabouts are under 24/7 police surveillance.
“[I am] always on the move, changing places and cell phones,” Holosny said. “I had to relocate my wife and one-year-old daughter to a safe place. I do not see them often nowadays.”
Holosny said he will agree to talk with police once he gets a subpoena. Despite police claims about sending multiple letters, he said his lawyers regularly checked his mail but never found one.
Holosny describes his pre-election campaign as stressful, but has no regrets.
When asked about his campaign financing he said he that help from friends, volunteers, and random people supporting his actions were enough to cover his modest needs.
Once elected to parliament, Holosny said he “will do everything to stop land, health and pension reforms,” which are designed to rob Ukraine’s unprotected and poor rural citizens.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected]
