For more than three hours on February 10 in Lutsk, the tax police illegally blocked the work of a number of public organizations, a branch of a political party, and several firms located on the fourth floor of the premises at 2 Kovelska Street.
At around eleven in the morning, armed tax officials entered the premises where the offices of the "Yedynyi Tsentr" party, the public organization Center for Municipal Reforms "Lutsk 1432," and a number of other organizations and firms are located, showed a search order, and locked all the doors. According to eyewitnesses, the order stated that the enterprise "Mega-Trans-Auto," registered in Lutsk at 2 Kovelska Street on the fourth floor, was subject to search. However, the office of this firm is located in another wing of the floor, which is separated from the offices of the party and public organizations and is in no way connected to them. Everyone present in the premises was first herded into one office, had their phones taken away, and was forbidden to move around. Women could enter the restroom only accompanied by law enforcement officers. The tax officials did not even let employees of the city police department, who arrived in response to a call about the seizure of the office, into the office premises. Representatives of the tax police conducted a search of all office premises without authorization. In particular, from the office of the firm LLC Energy Service Company "Lutsk Communal Systems," which has no relation whatsoever to the enterprise mentioned in the prosecutor's order, a seal, documents, and a computer system unit were seized. Among the offices that were subjected to the illegal and groundless search by the tax police was also the office rented by Mykhailo Shelep, who heads the Volyn Regional Youth Public Organization "Association of Young Reformers" and is the regional representative of the Civil Network OPORA. In his absence and without a warrant to search the relevant premises, the tax officials turned the entire office upside down, pulled all documents out of drawers and shelves, and created a mess. Moreover, according to witnesses, law enforcement officers examined the documents of these public organizations and copied down some information. Such "mask shows" performed by Volyn tax officials are a gross violation of the constitutional rights of citizens and interference in the activities of independent public organizations. This is yet another testimony that democratic processes in the country are gradually being rolled back, while a harsh model of administrative governance through pressure and threats is being introduced. We call on organized civil society to unite efforts around the protection of the democratic rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens, as well as to counter such illegal acts.