Reported by
A coalition of more than 70 Ukrainian and international civil society organizations issued a joint statement on Tuesday condemning what they described as a politically motivated criminal case against prominent anti-corruption advocate Vitaliy Shabunin.
The statement was issued at a time when Kyiv is facing increasing scrutiny over its dedication to anti-corruption efforts.
Shabunin, co-founder of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC) and a current member of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, was charged this week with evading military service and fraud. The charges stem from his alleged improper receipt of military compensation while not actively serving, claims AntAC says are false and retaliatory.
According to the organization, Shabunin had been legally seconded to the National Agency on Corruption Prevention under orders from his military command — a routine and permitted reassignment for active-duty soldiers.
Officers from Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigations (DBR) searched Shabunin’s family home and military post in the Kharkiv region on July 11, allegedly without court warrants and in the absence of his lawyers. Investigators reportedly seized several items unrelated to the case, including his children’s tablets.
The coalition statement called the case “a textbook example of either gross incompetence or a deliberate attempt to silence a vocal government critic.” It also noted that a separate claim — that Shabunin had misused a vehicle donated by a volunteer group — was not included in the official suspicion notice. The donor, CEO Club, publicly designated the car for Shabunin’s use and has not filed any complaints.
“This is not the first time the state has targeted Shabunin,” the coalition wrote, citing a pattern of harassment that began in 2016.
The statement urged President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to publicly denounce politically motivated prosecutions and called on Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko and DBR Director Oleksii Sukhachov to remove investigators from the case and open disciplinary proceedings.
The declaration comes days after Ukraine’s government had rejected veteran investigator Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi as head of the Bureau of Economic Security, despite an independent commission lawfully nominating him. The government cited Tsyvinskyi’s father’s Russian citizenship — a fact known during the selection process — as the reason.
