The SBU saw the return of the names of Zhukov, Gaidar and Tereshkova to Odessa streets as “war propaganda”
At the initiative of the SBU, the prosecutor's office opened criminal proceedings under Part 2 of Art. 436-1 of the Criminal Code (war propaganda) in the case of the decision of the Odessa City Council to change the names of streets and alleys.
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The SBU press service reported this .
The SBU noted that the decision of the deputies allegedly violates the law “On the condemnation of the communist and national socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the ban on the propaganda of their symbols.”
“The actions of the deputies of the Odessa City Council on the eve of the next anniversary of the events of May 2 (the fire in the Odessa House of Trade Unions - Ed.) can be regarded as a provocation to destabilize the situation in the city,” the SBU assures.
Let us recall that on April 26, the City Council approved the names of 1531 streets, alleys, and avenues, returning some of the names of the streets that were renamed in May 2016, bypassing the local community by a strong-willed decision of the then governor Mikheil Saakashvili. In particular, the deputies implemented the decision of the historical and toponymic commission of the City Council to return the old names to the street of the 25th Chapaevskaya Division, Babushkin Street and Lane, Gaidar, Belinsky, Badaev, Tereshkova streets, Marshal Zhukov Avenue and others. The renaming of one of the city streets in honor of the so-called “heavenly hundred” - right-wing radical militants who died during the riots on the Maidan in Kyiv - was also cancelled.
The prosecutor's office of the Odessa region began criminal proceedings in connection with this decision.
At the same time, the well-known Maidan activist and people's deputy Igor Lutsenko stated on his social network page with regret that such actions of the prosecutor's office and the SBU are illegal, because changes to the legislation introduced on the initiative of Petro Poroshenko deprived the prosecutor's office and the SBU of the authority to protest decisions of local councils .
“A number of Facebook users are outraged that in Odessa the local government has returned the soviet names of streets that Saakashvili once renamed. Calls are heard for Yuriy Lutsenko to intervene in the situation. Let me remind you that on October 14, 2014, the Prosecutor General’s Office was solemnly deprived of the function of overseeing the legality of the actions of persons of public law. In particular, the GPU does not have the authority to appeal decisions of local authorities. Also, in the amendments to the Constitution, which Poroshenko pushed through parliament last year, this norm is now enshrined, according to which not a single state organization is responsible for the legality of the actions of civil servants, deputies of various levels, etc.,” the people’s deputy wrote on his page on the social network.