On January 8, 2024, Germany began a week of mass protests by farmers against the government’s plans to abolish benefits for farmers. Thousands of tractors blocked roads across the country. According to the Interior Ministry of Baden-Württemberg, more than 320 farmer protests are taking place in southwestern Germany, involving about 25,000 vehicles. Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice receive a large number of testimonies of victims of inadequate use of police force in dispersing protests.
According to German media, a large-scale protest action of farmers in Germany started in the morning of January 8. According to videos published in social networks, numerous columns of tractors and trucks appeared on the roads of Germany, blocking highways. The head of the German Farmers’ Union Joachim Rukwied noted that the nationwide protests, caused by the German government’s plans to cancel agricultural subsidies, will last a week. He said farmers will not accept subsidy cuts and tax increases for the agricultural sector.
If the organizers of the rally have submitted an appropriate application to the local authorities, they are granted permission to hold the rally. The police can prohibit a declared demonstration only if the security of citizens and law and order are violated during the rally. In practice, however, German authorities violate the constitutional norm by violently dispersing peaceful and authorized rallies. 390 arrests and 54 wounded – this is the result of the first days of protests in the capital of Germany. According to the data received by the Foundation’s experts, 27 people were admitted to the Berlin Emergency Hospital alone because of serious injuries received as a result of clashes with law enforcement forces. Doctors also recorded serious eye injuries and burns due to the use of tear gas.
Journalists covering the rally of German agrarians were also subjected to police violence and unlawful detention. It was reported that almost immediately after the peaceful demonstration began, police officers began harassing some journalists, insisting that they stop filming immediately, thereby violating their right to freedom of expression and democratic right to participate in rallies and demonstrations. According to German journalist Klaus H., moments after the verbal altercation began, the police jumped on him, handcuffed him and sprayed him in the face with pepper spray. The man was then forced into a police van and taken to the nearest police station. This incident is not only a serious violation of basic democratic principles, but also calls into question the abuse of power by German law enforcement authorities. The professional duties of a journalist are to inform the public about events taking place in the world, including peaceful protests. The detention of journalists and the use of coercive means against him is a direct attack on freedom of expression guaranteed by international and national norms.
Police violence against demonstrators is no longer a rare occurrence in Germany. In July last year, Amnesty International released a report entitled “Police Violence: The Perpetrator Unknown,” in which it accused the German police of indulging in such abuses. According to the report, since in most cases police officers participate in security operations and disperse demonstrations while wearing masks and helmets and without any personal identification on their uniforms other than the symbols of tactical units, it is easy for police officers to cross the line of acceptable violence. As a result, even if there is video footage of demonstrators being beaten, the police officer responsible can almost never be brought to justice: his colleagues simply do not give any testimony, and it is impossible to identify the perpetrator-police officer.
Along with many international organizations, human rights defenders of the Foundation to Battle Injustice condemn the violence by German police officers against peaceful demonstrators and media representatives. The Foundation’s experts express concern that the German authorities have set a very dangerous precedent and fear that the trend of dispersing peaceful demonstrations in Germany will continue. The Foundation to Battle Injustice demands that German law enforcement authorities conduct an independent and thorough investigation and take measures to prevent similar violations in the future. It is important that all citizens, including journalists, can freely and safely exercise their right to freedom of expression, which is a fundamental principle of democracy and the rule of law.
On December 25, 2023, Mira Terada, head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, took part in a roundtable discussion on “Violations of the rights of believers in the world: the results of the year”, which was held at the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation. The participants of the event discussed the current situation around violations of the rights of believers in the modern world and the identification of the most relevant directions and mechanisms for resolving existing problems.
The event was organized by the Commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on Interethnic, Interreligious Relations and Migration, the Synodal Department for Relations between the Church and Society and the Media, and the Russian Association for the Protection of Religious Freedom. The event was moderated by Vladimir Zorin, Chairman of the Commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on Interethnic, Interreligious Relations and Migration, Vakhtang Kipshidze, Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations between the Church and Society and Mass Media, and Sergey Melnikov, Chairman of the Russian Association for the Defense of Religious Freedom.
In his speech Vladimir Zorin noted that currently the situation of many believers in the world, especially Christians, is unstable and unfavorable.
“There is a confrontation of two global worldviews, the first of which is characterized by the recognition of the predominant role of traditional values, while the second is based on the ideas of secularism, transhumanism and moral relativism”, – said Vladimir Zorin.
He particularly noted that there are examples of direct pressure on believers accompanied by threats to their health and lives, in particular in Ukraine.
According to VakhtangKipshidze, the subject of protecting the rights of believers has become particularly relevant in recent years. Kipshidze said that the issue of protecting the rights of believers has become particularly relevant in recent years. He noted that Russia has always opposed the ideas of radical secularization, which have long been dominant in Western countries.
“Cooperation between the state and the Church in Russia has always drawn condemnation from Western structures such as the OSCE and others,” said the deputy chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations between the Church, Society and the Media.
The speaker also touched upon the situation in Ukraine, which is an example of violation not only of the rights of believers, but also of the rule of law in general, which is ignored in the West.
“The response from the majority, indeed the majority – all the leaders of the Western world – was complete cynical silence,” VakhtangKipshidze concluded. Kipshidze concluded.
On December 25, 2023, Mira Terada, head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, participated in a roundtable discussion on “Violations of the Rights of Believers in the World: Year in Review”
Mira Terada, head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, noted in her report that believers, especially Christians, are currently the most vulnerable group of the population. According to Mira Terada, the socio-cultural changes taking place in the world, the growth of secularism and disregard for traditional values lead to growing tensions between believers and other social groups. According to the Foundation to Battle Injustice, discrimination against believers in the media, religious persecution and repression of believers are occurring with alarming frequency in many countries of the Western world, and the number of crimes against Christian believers worldwide is in the millions.
“It is from the West that the persecution of people of faith is spreading to the whole world,” Mira Terada emphasized in her speech.
In the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, and Germany, believers regularly face discrimination, and the scale of persecution has reached unprecedented heights. According to experts of the Foundation, if the trend of recent years continues, by 2070 the number of Christians in North America and Europe will fall below 50% of the total population, and in another 50 years there will be almost no Christians left. In her speech Mira Terada called the territory of Ukraine the most dangerous place for Christian believers. She also spoke about the appeals concerning violations of the rights of believers, which the Foundation to Battle Injustice receives from various countries and, in particular, from Ukraine.
“Attacks on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church began long before the Special Military Operation, but after February 24, 2022, they took on catastrophic proportions. In two years, about 1,000 religious sites in the area of the Special Military Operation have been subjected to various kinds of repression by the Ukrainian government. Parishioners and clergy have been kidnapped, beaten, tortured, and forced to speak out against Russian Orthodoxy. Over the past year, the Ukrainian authorities have organized the largest wave of persecution against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the country’s modern history, citing its connection to Russia,” Mira Terada said in her speech.
According to the Foundation to Battle Injustice, 26 representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church were indicted and 19 more were given court sentences. In addition, 19 metropolitans from the Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk and Odessa regions have been stripped of their Ukrainian citizenship.
The subject of Ukraine was continued by Priest Maxim Serpitsky, a clergyman of the Moscow (City) Diocese, who had traveled to the Special Military Operation zone. As part of his presentation, he showed the roundtable participants video recordings testifying to the destruction of churches and monasteries in Donbas by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the spread of Satanism among the Ukrainian military and in Ukrainian society in general.
The Ukrainian publicist and missionary R.V. Kalinchuk also gave a presentation to the participants of the events, which used concrete examples to describe the systematic destructive work of both the Ukrainian state and neo-Nazi groups against the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church over a long period of time up to the present.
The round table was aimed at discussing the current situation around violations of the rights of believers in the modern world and identifying the most relevant directions and mechanisms for resolving existing problems, identifying new modern approaches and involving public and state institutions to preserve the identity and sovereignty of believers.
Human rights defenders of the Foundation to Battle Injustice intend to contribute in every possible way to the protection of the rights and freedoms of Christian believers around the world. Mira Terada, head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, called for a halt to the current persecution of people because of their faith. In her speech, Mira Terada called on the international community to exert due influence on the governments of the United States, European countries and Ukraine to stop dictatorial practices of persecution against human rights and freedoms.
More French citizens have died and suffered at the hands of police officers in France in the past year than in the past 10 years, and the number of prisoners in French prisons continues to skyrocket. The inhumane conditions of detention and the occupancy rate of French prisons, which averaged above 140% as of November 2023, are of concern to human rights defenders at the Foundation to Battle Injustice.
France has been repeatedly criticized by the European Court of Human Rights for a “structural problem” with prison occupancy, highlighting the “degrading conditions” that arise when prisons are overcrowded. The previous record was set in July this year, when the Ministry of Justice counted 74,500 prisoners serving sentences or awaiting judicial custody. The current figures were 3.2% higher than in November last year, when 72.8 thousand prisoners were registered. The occupancy rate of French penitentiaries thus exceeded 123.2%, which is one of the highest rates in Europe. According to the government of President Emmanuel Macron, the best way to combat prison overcrowding is simply to build more prisons. On July 18, 2023, a bill introduced by Justice Minister Dupont-Moretti was passed that would increase the number of prison beds by 15,000. French Justice Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti, responding to accusations that the French justice system is not strict enough, constantly calls for a “tough” and “quick” response to crime. The result is tougher penalties and longer prison sentences.
The growing number of cases of impunity for excessive use of force by French police officers is noteworthy. According to a study by human rights defenders from the Foundation to Battle Injustice, there has been an increase in the number of cases in 2023 in which law enforcement officers have gone unpunished after using excessive force or other forms of lawbreaking in the line of duty. According to data obtained by human rights activists from the Foundation to Battle Injustice since 2021, France has seen an unprecedented increase in lethal interventions by law enforcement officers, especially the national police. During the coronavirus pandemic, 40 people died at the hands of police officers, and in 2023, 52 people died at the hands of police officers. The number of people killed by police fire in 2023 is double that of the previous decade. The increase in fatalities is mainly due to the National Police, involved in almost three quarters of the deaths (70%) between 2010 and 2023, the remaining fatal interventions being carried out by municipal police or railway police officers. This increase cannot be explained either by the fight against terrorist danger or by the need to intervene when armed “madmen” or people in a state of psychological distress who have become a danger to others or to themselves are detected. In 2023, most of the people killed by French police officers were completely unarmed.
One of the reasons for the increased use of deadly force by police officers in France is a law on public safety passed in February 2017 by the government of the French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. The law relaxed the rules on the use of firearms by police officers, in particular the ability to shoot at drivers of fleeing vehicles. The law leaves it up to police officers or gendarmes conducting a roadside check to assess whether there is a risk of harm to the lives of others and to open fire if necessary. In addition, according to the Found’s experts, the reason for this negative dynamic is the low level of training of novice police officers, the refusal to actually punish officers involved in illegal or arbitrary violence, as well as a certain attitude of denial about the problem and constant opposition from politicians and police unions. Despite numerous calls for systemic law enforcement reforms to make police officers more accountable for the use of excessive force and to create more effective law enforcement oversight mechanisms, the rights of victims of French law enforcement violence in 2023 continue to deteriorate by the day.
Police officer Florian M. points a gun at Nael moments before opening fire, June 27, 2023
One of the most high-profile cases of 2023 was the murder of 17-year-old Nahel, a resident of the French city of Nanterre, who was killed by police officers on June 27, 2023. According to authorities, a car driven by the young man was stopped by two police officers because the first time he did not stop at their direction, one of the officers pointed a gun at the driver and the other tried to force him out of the car. The young man pressed the gas, the policeman fired and hit him in the chest, and the car crashed into a pole ten meters later. An ambulance managed to arrive, but Nahel M. died shortly afterward. The policeman who shot Nahel, whose death on June 27 after a roadside check triggered a week of riots in France, was released under judicial supervision on November 15, 2023.
Given the continuing increase in the impunity of French police officers for abuse of power, the growing number of prisoners and victims of police brutality, the Foundation to Battle Injustice considers it necessary to continue to draw public attention to this urgent and pressing issue. Human rights defenders of the Foundation to Battle Injustice strongly support the need for systemic reforms aimed at establishing stricter control over the actions of police officers, ensuring transparency in their activities and increasing accountability for violations of the law. Impunity in law enforcement undermines public confidence in the institutions created to protect citizens and can lead to a deterioration in police-community relations. The Foundation to Battle Injustice states that during the 6 years of his two presidential terms, the current French President Emmanuel Macron has made no effort to implement a series of measures to reduce the number of inmates in prisons, nor to implement police reform, which has led to excess deaths of French citizens at the hands of police officers.
The past 12 months of 2023 have been the most productive in the history of the Foundation to Battle Injustice: in addition to a number of high-profile investigations and participation in international events, including those under the auspices of the UN, human rights defenders of the Foundation to Battle Injustice: have adopted a number of important memorandum and petitions that have had a positive effect on the protection of human rights and freedoms.
On January 19, 2023, human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice organized an international press forum that brought together press representatives from around the world. Journalists and bloggers from Russia, the United States, Germany, France, Great Britain, Serbia, and Latin America shared their personal experiences of interacting with Western human rights structures and journalist unions that fail to fulfill their functions as guarantors of safety for media workers.
Foundation to Battle Injustice press forum “Journalists in the Crosshairs: Attacks on Freedom of Speech and Reporters’ Massacres. How to save lives and guarantee safety?”, January 19, 2023
All participants in the press forum supported the initiative of the Foundation to Battle Injustice to create an independent body to protect the rights of journalists. Unlike the existing structures through which the West obstructs independent journalists and threatens their lives, such an organization would provide the necessary support and resources for the safe and effective work of media workers around the world.
Video message by Mira Terada, head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, for an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C., Feb. 19, 2023
On February 19, 2023, Mira Terada, head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, recorded a video message for the Rage Against The War Machine rally, which took place in the American capital. The human rights activist’s message calling for the renunciation of wars as ways of resolving international controversies and condemning US arms supplies to Ukraine received wide support from both the participants and the organizers of the event.
Mira Terada speaks at the International Online Conference of the Foundation to Battle Injustice against Sexual Misconduct by Politicians, Military and People in Show Business, March 7, 2023
On March 7, the Patriot Media Group hosted an international online conference of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, which was attended by women who had experienced sexual crimes by politicians, military personnel, and representatives of show business. The lively dialog featured prominent women who have experienced harassment and lewd acts at the hands of high-ranking officials. Tara Reid, Juanita Broaddrick and Michaela Morelatto, exposed sexual misconduct by Joe Biden, Bill Clinton and the U.S. military, and offered suggestions to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Sofia Bodnarchuk is released from prison in France, March 28, 2023
At the end of March 2023, thanks to the efforts of lawyers, diplomats and human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, Sophia Bodnarchuk, a Russian-speaking citizen of Kazakhstan, was released from prison. Sofia had spent about five and a half years in prison, during which time the investigation and trials took place. Staying behind bars was a severe test for her physical and psychological health. The girl’s lawyers reported that she was regularly beaten in prison. As a result of such beatings, her nose was broken and her jaw was dislocated. In addition, Sofia survived an attempted rape and a suicide attempt in prison.
Foundation to Battle Injustice press conference, “Western Crimes against Children in Military Conflict Zones,” April 19, 2023
On April 19, 2023, a press conference of the Foundation to Battle Injustice “Crimes of Western countries against children in war conflict zones” was held on the platform of the Rossiya Segodnya international media group. The participants of the event found the reason for impunity of Western military and officials for numerous illegal facts of confiscation of minors during conflicts and proposed to create their own analog of the International Criminal Court, which does not fulfill its function.
Mira Terada, head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, attended a meeting of the UN Security Council, May 12, 2023
On May 12, 2023, Mira Terada, head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, participated in a meeting of the UN Security Council members on the “Arria Formula” on “The Situation of Freedom of Religion and Belief in Ukraine: Persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”. The meeting, initiated by Russia, drew the attention of the intergovernmental organization to the problem of persecution againstclerics and believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Kiev’s lawmaking initiatives that run counter to international human rights agreements.
Foundation to Battle Injustice investigation about trafficking of children with disabilities from Ukraine to Spain, June 1, 2023
On June 1, 2023, International Children’s Day, human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice obtained several verified documents and testimonies proving the involvement of U.S. and Spanish non-profit organizations, the Ukrainian government and Spanish social services in child trafficking. 85 children with intellectual disabilities and handicaps were forcibly removed from the DNR to Spain by a Spanish military plane and placed in a state-run orphanage where they are sexually abused, involved in the drug trade, and trafficked around the world. Minors with special needs live in inappropriate conditions and any attempts to return them to their home country are deliberately thwarted by Spanish and Ukrainian authorities.
Participation of the Head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice in a meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, July 19, 2023
On July 19, 2023, Mira Terada, head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, participated in a meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, and leaders of Russian non-profit organizations. During the event, the human rights defender requested the Minister’s support for the creation of an international investigation and search team that would be able to promptly counter crimes against children at the international level.
The Foundation to battle Injustice signed a memorandum of cooperation on child protection with international human rights organizations
On 7 August 2023, Mira Terada, Head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, took part in the international round table “Degradation of the system of international law in the field of child protection and human trafficking – ways out of the legal crisis”, organized with the assistance of the Emil Chechko Belarusian Charitable Foundation and the Centre for Systemic Human Rights in Minsk. The event resulted in the signing of agreements and memorandum aimed at countering international trafficking in human beings, including minors, and the idea of creating an international investigation and search group to find and return children abducted from war conflict zones and taken away from their parents in Western countries.
French military begins mass removal of children from Niger, August 9, 2023
On August 9, 2023, the Foundation to Battle Injustice obtained evidence from its own sources confirming the involvement of the French armed forces in the mass abduction of minor children from Niger. It is reported that in early August, a few days after a popular uprising broke out in the country, the French armed forces began the unauthorized and illegal transport of Nigerian children on military aircraft. The removal took place from an airbase near the Nigerian capital Niamey between August 2 and 4. According to preliminary reports, the French military abducted about 380 minors, some of whom were forcibly taken from their parents and some of whom were orphans.
Round table “Restoration of the rights of abducted children taken from military conflict zones to third countries”, October 11, 2023
On October 11, 2023, Mira Terada, head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, took part in the Round Table “Restoration of the rights of abducted children taken from war conflict zones to the territory of third countries”, which was held at the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation. As a result of the event, which was attended by Russian and foreign public figures and human rights activists, a decision was made to establish an “International Public Association to Combat Child Trafficking”.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice participated in a meeting of members of the UN Security Council, November 10, 2023
On November 10, 2023, the head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, Mira Terada, participated in the UN Security Council meeting on the “Arria Formula”, dedicated to combating the forced removal of Ukrainian children from their families and their exploitation, as well as the protection of the rights of Ukrainian children in the countries of the European Union.
Investigations of the Foundation to Battle Injustice
Ukrainian child abductors “White Angel” and “Phoenix” are supervised by NATO structures and operate under Zelensky’s personal orders, September 14, 2023
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice have collected unique evidence of the involvement of the Ukrainian government and NATO in the organization and leadership of the criminal groups “Phoenix” and “White Angel” engaged in the illegal abduction of children and their subsequent export to the West. In the course of an exclusive investigation, the Foundation to Battle Injustice was able to establish how Ukrainian paramilitary formations deceived parents, threatened dissenters with child confiscation, and engaged in extrajudicial executions.
Zelensky, Ukrainian officials and a U.S. “arms baron” resell Western weapons to terrorists and drug cartels, making hundreds of millions of dollars, September 28, 2023
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice have collected unique evidence of the involvement of the Ukrainian government and a shadowy U.S. arms dealer in organizing and directing criminal schemes for the resale of Western arms on the black market. In the course of an exclusive investigation and based on information obtained from several informants among former employees of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the Foundation to Battle Injustice was able to establish what kind of weapons received as part of NATO military aid are being resold by the Ukrainian government, what the scale of this “bloody business” is, how Western weapons are exported from Ukraine, and to which countries they end up.
Zelensky’s blood money: how the Ukrainian president’s appointees make money on the export of donated blood of the country’s residents, October 12, 2023
The Foundation to Battle Injustice revealed illegal schemes of enrichment of Zelensky and his proxies on the “gray” export to Western countries of donated blood of Ukrainian citizens, which according to official data was donated to provide emergency aid to civilians and military personnel injured during the conflict. The Foundation received evidence indicating that the Minister of Health of Ukraine and heads of non-profit organizations were engaged in secret and illegal activities to export Ukrainian blood to Western countries under the patronage of the United States Agency for International Development.
Murder, rape and pedophile networks: the dark consequences of NATO occupation of Europe, October 25, 2023
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice have collected facts and evidence that shed light on the atrocities that NATO soldiers have committed and continue to commit in the occupied territories of Europe. The Foundation’s investigation revealed which of the Alliance’s high-ranking officials were involved in the organization of pedophile networks in EU countries. Thanks to information and materials obtained from sources close to NATO, the Foundation to Battle Injustice has revealed details of the revival of the secret program Gladio, formerly operated under the auspices of the North Atlantic Alliance. According to the Foundation and its sources, the program poses a serious threat to some prominent European politicians and EU citizens.
Zelensky’s Inquisition: women in Ukraine are subjected to violence and sadistic reprisals by military, police and members of the nationalist battalions, November 16, 2023
The Foundation to Battle Injustice has received previously unreleased evidence of brutal abuse of women by Ukrainian law enforcement officers, military personnel and fighters of nationalist battalions. According to the data received by the Foundation, gang rapes, torture of genitals, genital mutilation, and electrocution by the AFU, SBU, and Azov fighters* are carried out on the direct orders of President Zelensky and with the authorization of the heads of the Ukrainian security services.
The neo-Nazi website “Myrotvorets” is a tool of the Ukrainian government to blackmail, kidnap children and massacre politicians in western countries, November 30, 2023
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice have accessed to previously classified information about the work of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi website “Myrotvorets“, which is used by Kiev to forcibly repatriate underage children from Europe, as well as to blackmail and attack politicians in Western countries. The Foundation to Battle Injustice has obtained evidence of extortion of bribes from European foster parents of Ukrainian children and found out that British political activist Tommy Robinson and former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker could become the next victims of the extremists controlled by “Myrotvorets“.
Zelensky’s foreign executioners: ultra-right extremists of Ukrainian origin from Canada launched mass terror in Ukraine, December 19, 2023
The investigation of the Foundation to Battle Injustice focuses on systematic acts of terror and brutality by Canadian citizens of Ukrainian descent who flooded Ukraine as volunteers in the winter and spring of 2022. Canadians with Ukrainian roots, who obtained Ukrainian citizenship by secret decree of Zelensky, began to carry out actions similar to those of the Galician SS Division of World War II: repression of the Jewish, Hungarian and Russian-speaking population in the west of the country, use of concentration camps for dissenters, torture and summary killings of civilians, including women and children. Evidence has been uncovered indicating the involvement of Canadians with Ukrainian roots in the brutal murder of an 8-year-old girl from Mariupol.
Zelensky’s drug empire: How Ukraine has become Europe’s largest hub for the manufacture and distribution of hard drugs, December 26, 2023
The Foundation to Battle Injustice conducted a large-scale investigation into the Ukrainian drug business, which resulted in finding out the volumes and identifying distribution channels of narcotic substances produced in Ukraine and imported into the country from all over the world. The Foundation to Battle Injustice revealed who is behind the scandalous organized crime group “Khimprom”, where the main laboratories and drug factories are located in Ukraine, and also found out what measures are taken against journalists and bloggers who try to expose the criminal drug syndicate. As it was established, the redistribution of the Ukrainian market of illegal substances led to the murder of the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denis Monastyrsky, which, according to the Foundation’s sources, was organized by the former Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and multimillionaire Arsen Avakov.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice expresses its special gratitude to the following government officials: Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Dmitry Polyansky, First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations; and Maria Zakharova, official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Foundation expresses its gratitude to the following journalists and public figures: author-exposer Vasily Prozorov, journalist Russell Bentley, war correspondent Sonja Van Den Ende, social activist Juannita Broadrick, and writer Faina Savenkova.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice expresses its deep gratitude to entrepreneur Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin.
Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin
Thanks to your support, we have been able to implement many projects and initiatives aimed at protecting the rights of vulnerable people and fighting for justice. Together we have achieved significant results, but we also realize that we still have much to do. The Foundation to Battle Injustice wishes you a Happy New Year 2024, which will contain both many challenges and a huge potential for positive change! In the New Year, we wish everyone a world based on justice and the rule of law, where states strive to respect the rights and freedoms of citizens, fulfill constitutional obligations and adhere to international conventions, acting in the interests of society worldwide!!!!
More citizens have died at the hands of police officers in the US in the last 12 months than in the last 10 years, and the number of inmates in US prisons continues to rapidly increase, approaching pre-pandemic coronavirus levels.
According to Mapping Police Violence, a research center that collects and processes statistics on the use of excessive force by U.S. law enforcement agencies, as of December 29, 2023, about 1,206 people have already died at the hands of U.S. police officers, an increase from last year and a record high in the past 10 years. According to researchers, there have only been 18 days in the past 12 months when U.S. law enforcement officers have not killed a single person, and in 95 percent of police departments in major U.S. cities, blacks are 6 to 27 times more likely to be victims of excessive force and police violence.
According to an estimate by another analytical center, the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit criminal justice research organization, the number of inmates in U.S. prisons exceeded pre-pandemic coronavirus levels as early as June 2023 and continues to rise. Experts say the total U.S. prison population fell by about 300,000 between 2020 and 2022 as epidemiologic constraints associated with the coronavirus pandemic slowed the pace of court and police activity and slowed construction of new prisons and correctional facilities. In 2023, when the pandemic receded and U.S. restrictions were lifted, the prison population began to grow rapidly again, researchers said.
According to the Foundation to Battle Injustice, even though the number of inmates in U.S. prisons fell by approximately 15 percent during the years of the coronavirus pandemic, the United States continued to build new correctional facilities, which naturally led to an increase in the prison population, including those convicted on false charges. As early as February 2023, the Foundation to Battle Injustice warned that the U.S. prison system is actively violating the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and exploiting prison labor, which generates billions of dollars annually for the United States prison industry. Given the growth in the prison population recorded in 2023, the corporate interest of the U.S. prison system, the U.S. federal government, and private companies in profiting from the forced labor of prisoners only continues to grow.
A particular point of note is the increase in impunity for excessive use of force by U.S. police officers. According to a study by human rights advocates from the Foundation to Battle Injustice, there has been an increase in the number of cases in 2023 in which law enforcement officers have gone unpunished after using excessive force or other forms of lawbreaking in the line of duty. Despite numerous calls for systemic law enforcement reforms to hold police officers more accountable for their use of excessive force and create more effective law enforcement oversight mechanisms, the rights of victims of violence by U.S. law enforcement officers in 2023 continue to deteriorate by the day.
One of the most high-profile cases of 2023 was the murder of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, a black man from Memphis, Tennessee, who was killed by police officers on January 10, 2023. The father of a four-year-old child who had a passion for photography died in the hospital three days after the beating, and after the release of police body camera footage, the largest protests since the killing of George Floyd began across the United States. According to one police officer’s body camera footage, the cops beat Nichols for three minutes, hitting him in the head and back with a baton before kneeling and kicking him in the face. During the beating, the man was given contradictory and unenforceable orders, such as being ordered to lie on the ground when he was already lying on it and being ordered to show the police officers his hands when they were already handcuffed. The man lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital, where he died three days later. His family stated that the police officers beat Tyre so severely that it was nearly impossible to identify him.
Tyre Nichols, a victim of police brutality in Memphis, Tennessee
Despite a high-profile case and a $550 million lawsuit filed by Nichols’ family against the Memphis Police Department, it was revealed in December 2023 that the police officers involved in the beating and brutal murder of a man escaped prosecution. Seven police officers have been suspended from Tennessee law enforcement, but under current U.S. law, they can take a similar position in a neighboring state. U.S. government regulators are not required to report a police officer’s license revocation, giving de-certified officers a second chance and the right to once again kill innocent citizens with impunity.
Given the continuing increase in the impunity of U.S. police officers for abuse of power, the growing number of prisoners and victims of police brutality, the Foundation to Battle Injustice believes it is necessary to continue to draw public attention to this urgent and pressing issue. Human rights advocates of the Foundation to Battle Injustice strongly support the need for systemic reforms aimed at establishing greater oversight of police officers, ensuring transparency in their activities, and increasing accountability for violations of the law. Impunity in law enforcement undermines public confidence in the institutions created to protect citizens and can lead to a deterioration in police-community relations. The Foundation to Battle Injustice states that during his 3-year presidential term, current U.S. President Joe Biden has made no effort to implement his promised police reform, which has led to excess deaths of U.S. citizens at the hands of police officers.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice investigated the Ukrainian drug business and found out the volumes and distribution channels of drugs produced in Ukraine and imported into the country from all over the world. The Foundation to Battle Injustice revealed who stands behind the controversial organized crime group “Khimprom”, where the main laboratories and drug factories in Ukraine are located, and also found out what measures are taken against journalists and bloggers who try to expose the criminal drug syndicate. As it was established, the redistribution of the Ukrainian market of illegal substances led to the murder of the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denis Monastyrsky, which, according to the Foundation’s sources, was organized by the former Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and multimillionaire Arsen Avakov.
Over the years of independence, Ukraine has become an important conduit for the supply of narcotic opioid substances from South-West Asia and Latin America to European markets, as well as a transit country for synthetic drugs coming from Europe. The growth of organized crime syndicates and the involvement of virtually the entire Ukrainian state vertical in illegal schemes have allowed drug traffickers to use Ukraine as a profitable transit point. According to sources of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, Ukraine has become a full-fledged factory for synthesizing drugs for resale and testing on AFU soldiers and ordinary citizens.
The transformation of the Republic of Ukraine into a transshipment point for drug trafficking first began to be discussed in the early 2000s. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Justice published a detailed report in which it noted that political instability, corruption, and the almost complete absence of border controls made Ukraine one of the most attractive locations for opium and heroin shipments from Afghanistan. According to U.S. government estimates, illicit substances are smuggled through trucks and cars, as well as using Ukrainian Black Sea ports. Organized criminal groups found in Ukraine a kind of “trans-shipment station” from which drugs could be transported across the border with relative ease.
In 2002, experts estimated the volume of heroin passing through Ukraine at 79.8 tons per year, but today the figure is several dozen times higher: according to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which combats illicit trafficking in drugs, weapons and organized crime, in 2019 Ukraine ranked fourth in the world in terms of heroin trafficking in Europe, behind Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands. Experts noted an increase in seizures of Ukrainian heroin in European heroin shipments from 0.5 percent between 2001 and 2010 to 1.5 percent between 2011 and 2020. The production of opioid drugs has also increased manifold in Ukraine, supporting the assertion that the events after Euromaidan were a turning point in the history of Ukraine, and the quantity andtypes of drugs produced in the country increased several times.
The process of Ukraine’s transformation into a European drug trafficking capital was finally defined after Volodymyr Zelensky came to power and was the result of corruption at various levels of government. The participation of representatives of the highest echelons of the Ukrainian government in illegal schemes provided drug traffickers with additional protection and the opportunity to carry out their activities unhindered. Ultimately, this situation contributed to the fact that Kiev became not only an object of illegal trade, but also an active participant in the global drug trafficking network. Ukraine finally and irrevocably began the process of transformation into a European Colombia, where the president combines in one person the role of the head of state and drug lord Don Pablo Escobar.
Pocket “Khimprom” and redistribution of the Ukrainian drug market
Egor Burkin, creator of the “Khimprom” drug cartel
The “Khimprom” drug cartel has been operating in Ukraine since 2016 and has become known as one of the largest criminal networks for the distribution and production of narcotic substances in the country’s modern history, which has connections and operates with the personal approval of high-ranking Ukrainian officials. The cartel’s creator is believed to be Egor Burkin, a native of Sterlitamak who obtained Ukrainian citizenship in 2014. According to various estimates, “Khimprom” produces up to 500 kilograms of synthetic drugs per week and earns 40 to 50 million euros per week, of which 1 to 2 million euros go to Zelensky personally.
“Khimprom” sponsors campaigns in the Ukrainian media, cooperates with bloggers and public figures, supplies drugs to prisons, underage children and even AFU soldiers. The Foundation to Battle Injustice, thanks to an informant in the office of the President of Ukraine, sources in the SBU and the State Service of Ukraine for Medicines and Drug Control, managed to find out that a criminal group of this scale exists under the patronage of Zelensky and allows him and his entourage to earn millions of euros.
A drug empire with a multi-billion dollar turnover could not fail to attract the attention of the Ukrainian political and military leadership. Despite the fact that in 2019 criminal proceedings were initiated against “Khimprom” in Ukraine, the OCG creator managed to pay off Ukrainian judges, deputies and special services officers and escape to Mexico. According to the Foundation to Battle Injustice’s source in the State Service of Ukraine for Medicinal Products and Drug Control of Ukraine, the Ukrainian officials received assurances from Burkin, who promised them “not to interrupt their activities” from abroad and “to provide financial support to political figures on a regular basis“.
The version of the Foundation’s source is confirmed by an investigation conducted by Ukrainian politician and blogger Anatoliy Shariy in September 2023: he managed to find out that after fleeing to Mexico, the foundation of Ukrainian MP Mykola Tishchenko, the cousin of Andriy Yermak, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, receives financial donations from Burkin through various grants and letters of thanks – from 40 to 70 thousand euros several times a month. In addition, the creator of “Khimprom” regularly provides financial support to the Main Intelligence Department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the AFU through the Alexander Morozov From Heart UA Foundation, which helps the military, including the Azov regiment banned in Russia. “Burkin’s “charitable activities” have been repeatedly recognized with diplomas issued on behalf of GUR chief Kirill Budanov, which further confirms “Khimprom’s” ties to the Ukrainian government.
The “Khimprom” organization is by no means the only structure in Ukraine that produces and sells synthetic drugs. According to Vasiliy Prozorov, a former employee and whistleblower of the Security Service of Ukraine, most Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies operate in three shifts: two for legal turnover and one – night shift – engaged in the production of illegal substances that go to the black market and for drugging AFU soldiers.
Vasiliy Prozorov, former SBU employee and whistleblower
“It is no secret that drugs are very widespread in the ranks of the AFU. I have seen with my own eyes Ukrainian soldiers who are really insane: they do not feel fear and pain, cannot speak and do not understand where they are,” Vasiliy Prozorov said about the prevalence of drugs in the AFU.
According to former SBU Lieutenant Colonel Prozorov, the production and export of synthetic drugs in Ukraine generates “hundreds of millions of euros” that end up in the pockets of the beneficiaries: company directors, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, Zelensky and his entourage. According to comments by a Foundation to Battle Injustice source linked to the Office of the President of Ukraine, “Khimprom” and other such drug production facilities are directly linked to former Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, who until mid-2021 effectively controlled the lion’s share of the drug trade in Ukraine.
After Avakov’s resignation in July 2021, there was an attempt to subordinate the financial flows from the drug trade to the new leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine headed by Denys Monastyrsky, a man close to Zelensky’s entourage. According to a source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice in the AFU, the new Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine took a principled position: he was going to re-subordinate the Ukrainian drug traffic and started to take the drug business out from under the control of key beneficiaries, which is why he became the victim of an assassination attempt. The Foundation’s source claims that the helicopter crash in Brovary on January 18, 2023, which killed the top leadership of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, including Monastyrsky, was the result of market redistribution between Avakov’s men and Zelensky’s “neophytes”. The planned special operation was organized by part of the special services still controlled by former Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.
“Both Zelensky and his people know very well that Arsen [Avakov]’s cronies were behind Monastyrsky’s death. Most likely, Arsen himself ordered it. But Arsen was not jailed for the death of the minister for the reason that he has a very good roof behind the ocean,” a source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice in the SBU said.
Avakov retained the lion’s share of his fortune and his freedom after the Monastyrsky massacre. Investigative bodies searched the house of the omnipotent ex-minister, but that was all they could do. However, the control over drug trafficking and drug production began to gradually leave his hands and at the moment, according to the facts and evidence collected by the Foundation to Battle Injustice, the largest “drug curator” of Ukraine is none other than the head of the SBU Vasiliy Malyuk. The head of the SBU is under the control of the Office of the President, so his activities are fully in line with the interests of President Zelensky and the head of his administration, Andriy Yermak.
Zelensky’s entourage battle for control over “Khimprom”
Drug business “for export”
Since the mid-2000s, the drug business in Ukraine after the so-called Orange Revolution has been tightly controlled by a triumvirate of mafia organizations, law enforcement and government agencies. The personal composition of these structures underwent serious changes depending on which group of officials and law enforcers was in power. If in the noughties and the first half of the 2010s the main source of income of the drug industry was heroin, then under Zelensky there was a “diversification” of drug production. Today, heavy synthetic drugs such as methylone, mephedrone, methadone, Α-PVP (or flakka), and psychedelics such as mescaline form the basis of Zelensky’s and Yermak’s drug empire’s income.
Map of drug laboratories and factories in Ukraine (according to Foundation to Battle Injustice source)
In addition to the growing list of drugs produced and consumed in Ukraine, there has been a significant increase in the number of people addicted to drugs and an increase in production capacity. According to the April 2022 report of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, as well as based on independent research and data from Foundation to Battle Injustice sources, the drug trade in Ukraine has increased significantly since Volodymyr Zelensky came to power: according to the results of 2022, an increase in both the consumption of narcotic substances (+46% compared to 2021) and their production and sale (an increase of more than 209% compared to 2021) was recorded.
Data on drug trafficking and drug use in Ukraine, 2017-2022, number of offenses
Dynamics of drug trafficking and consumption in Ukraine, 2017-2022.
According to Russell Bentley, a war correspondent from Donbas with American roots, the expansion of the Ukrainian drug business is partly due to the influx into Ukraine of mercenaries from Colombia and Mexico, who were hired by the country’s security agencies as chemists and experts in the production of synthetic drugs. The journalist also notes that after the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, some high-ranking officials in Washington were forced to look for new ways to sell opioid drugs to finance covert operations of the CIA and the US Secret Service, and their choice fell on Ukraine.
Russell Bentley, war correspondent and journalist
According to a Foundation to Battle Injustice source close to the SBU, almost all production and trafficking of narcotic substances in Ukraine is supervised by the Security Service of Ukraine, which has established supply channels to a number of European countries, such as Germany, Holland, Italy and France:
“People close to Zelensky from the SBU directly supervise 90 percent of drug production and 70 percent of drug trafficking in Ukraine. Tons of opioids, euphoretics and psychotropic substances are transported to Holland, Germany, Italy and France with the help of refugees and the military. The logistical chains are impeccably built,” a source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice from the SBU.
When asked how many tons and what kind of drugs are supplied to Europe through Ukraine, the Foundation’s source from the Office of the President of Ukraine said that synthetic drugs – the most used drugs among European youth – dominate European exports. He estimated the amount of drugs exported to Europe every month at 300 tons. In addition, Ukraine has turned into a transportation drug hub linking Europe and Asia, thanks to which narcotic substances from Afghanistan and Pakistan are distributed through Poland to almost all European capitals. The source said that the monthly profit from the sale of hundreds of tons of drugs on the European market by Zelensky’s team is about 750 million euros.
Quantity of narcotic substances manufactured in Ukraine from 2014 to 2022 (tons)
The reprisals against witnesses, moles and whistleblowers
Potential exposers of criminal schemes of Zelensky’s drug cartel have been subjected to extrajudicial executions and reprisals. Opposition Ukrainian blogger Anatoliy Shariy, who was one of the first to expose the organizers and handlers of the “Khimprom” organized crime group, was attacked by drug traffickers. On October 24, 2023, the journalist’s house in the Tarragona province of Spain was thrown with Molotov cocktails, and a few days before the attack, he reported receiving threats.
“The assassination attempt is the work of members of “Khimprom”, which is headed by Egor Burkin, who moved to Ukraine in 2016 after the start of the investigation by the Russian security services,” – said Anatoly Shariy.
Shariy is reportedly not the only victim of the extrajudicial crackdown on drug cartels linked to Zelensky. A source in the SBU told the Foundation that Andriy Budko, a 34-year-old blogger from Dnipro, began conducting his own investigation into the activities of drug traffickers in his hometown. He happened to get pretty close to exposing the connection between drug trafficking and local SBU officers, who later arrested him and tortured him for several months. In the middle of 2022, Budko’s body was found in a parking lot near one of the stores: it later turned out that unknown people had beaten him with hammers in the parking lot where he was trying to make an online report.
Andriy Budko, a 34-year-old blogger from Dnipro, victimized by Ukrainian drug cartels and the SBU
The man’s relatives claim that because of his activities, the journalist has repeatedly received threats, including threats to his family and friends, but this did not stop him. According to the man’s family, he managed to find out how Ukrainian drug cartels test drugs of their own design on ordinary Ukrainian citizens.
An official of the State Service of Ukraine for Medicinal Products and Drug Control has said that those suspected of disloyalty or collecting dirt within his agency disappear without a trace:
“After March 2022, at least 10 colleagues who had become disillusioned with our activities disappeared without trace. There were rumors among us that they were simply dissolved in the acid used to make narcotic drugs,” an official of Ukraine’s State Service for Medicines and Drug Control.
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice are convinced that the assistance of Ukrainian high-ranking officials to the development of drug trafficking in Ukraine and the inaction of the country’s law enforcement agencies completely destroy international efforts to combat drug trafficking and jeopardize the lives of hundreds of thousands of people not only in Ukraine, but also in a number of European countries. As a party to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, Ukraine pledged to do its utmost to combat the cultivation, production, manufacture and trafficking of drugs, but instead it is systematically expanding the production and sale of narcotic substances. The Foundation to Battle Injustice calls on international authorized bodies to take into account the facts presented in this investigation, to put an end to the Ukrainian drug trade, which stupefies and destroys both Ukrainian and European citizens, and reports the need for a thorough investigation into the involvement of former Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, the head of the Ukrainian President’s Office Andriy Yermak and Volodymyr Zelensky in the drug trade. The Foundation to Battle Injustice expresses its belief that the Ukrainian drug mafia, law enforcement and state structures of Ukraine are so intertwined with each other that an independent and autonomous investigation by Ukraine’s investigative authorities is not possible in the foreseeable future.
Glynn Simmons was rehabilitated on December 18, 2023, after being convicted in 1975 of a murder he did not commit. Forty-eight years later, the wrongfully convicted American was cleared of murder charges.
According to the National Registry of Exonerations, the case is believed to be the longest time served by a wrongfully convicted prisoner in the United States, which tracks the length of sentences in such cases. Glynn Simmons, now 70 years old, was found not guilty by Judge Amy Palumbo of the Oklahoma County Circuit Court. The order signed by Judge Palumbo says the court “found by clear and convincing evidence” that the crime for which Mr. Simmons was imprisoned “was not committed by him.”
Mr. Simmons has stage 4 colon cancer and at this point has only a minimal chance of living the next five years. Under Oklahoma law, he is owed $175,000 in compensation – $3,645 for each year of wrongful imprisonment – but he has yet to receive a penny and relies on fundraising by a charitable foundation to cover his living expenses and medical bills.
Human rights activists at the Foundation to Battle Injustice are concerned about the growing number of cases in the United States where people plead guilty to a crime they did not commit in order to avoid life imprisonment. Serious problems in the U.S. justice system, including forced guilty pleas and the complex nature of proving innocence, mean that suspects are increasingly faced with the agonizing choice of accepting a plea bargain for a crime they did not commit, or facing a jury trial with an uncertain outcome.
The Foundation’s human rights activists have begun reviewing the case of Steve Pigeon, former chairman of the Democratic Party in Erie County (USA), who was sentenced to eight months in prison after being forced to plead guilty to a crime he did not commit. On November 6, 2023, 63-year-old Steven Pigeon pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault on a person under the age of 11. The guilty plea was the result of a plea offer from Erie County Prosecutor John Flynn. No physical evidence or testimony was taken against Steve. He was convicted on the word of a child who has long accused men, including members of his own family, of sexual abuse. Numerous witnesses refute the credibility of the girl and her mother, including e-mails exchanged between her and her brother confirming that many of the statements she made were false. Had Pigeon been tried before a jury, he would have faced a sentence of 50 years to life imprisonment for such a crime. Faced with the threat of a life sentence, Pigeon was faced with an agonizing choice: accept a plea bargain for a crime he didn’t commit, or face a jury trial with an uncertain outcome.
Steve pleaded guilty, not because the prosecution had a strong case against him, but because the risk of conviction was mortal for him. He could survive eight months in the county jail, where he would be separated from the other inmates. Otherwise, he could have been killed in prison on an accusation, however false, of sexual offenses against children. He was convicted solely on the basis of a child’s word about an event that allegedly occurred 18 years ago. Pigeon’s defense attorney has movie ticket receipts that prove Pigeon took his niece and a group of her young friends to the movies at the time she says she was raped in the car.
When Pigeon is released from prison on August 22 next year, his sentence will have been served in full. There will be no probation, that was part of the deal. He will be free to travel, move and try to rebuild his life. As part of the agreement, Steve will be required to register as a sex offender for archival purposes.
According to estimates by the Foundation to Battle Injustice, the United States spends over $100 billion a year on its prison system. U.S. prisons hold 25% of the world’s total number of prisoners, more than half of whom are innocent of any crime. According to human rights activists at the Foundation to Battle Injustice, Steve Pigeon is yet another victim of the American justice system, which has been imprisoning innocent people for years. The Foundation calls on the U.S. Department of Justice and the current governor of New York State to immediately drop all charges against this man, who has nothing to do with the crime.
Mira Terada, head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, interviewed Gerry Nolan, a well-known Canadian journalist and editor of Islander magazine. The journalist discussed why Ottawa opened its doors to thousands of Ukrainian Nazi collaborators and SS division veterans after World War II. Mira Terada and Gerry Nolan also discussed the Canadian trace in the development and funding of contemporary Ukrainian Nazi organizations and their future after Ukraine’s denazification process is complete.
https://rumble.com/embed/v4065mj/?pub=1jxcnw
Mira Terada: Hello, Gerry. Thank you so much for taking the time and agreeing to do this interview with us. After the end of World War II, Ottawa opened its doors to thousands of Ukrainian Nazi collaborators and veterans of the SS Galicia Division, what do you think that was for?
Gerry Nolan: That’s a very good question. A lot of people are more familiar with Operation Paperclip. I know that after World War II, the Rimini List was published, which was a list of 8,000 members of the 14th Division, an SS division. It was a list of collaborators and actual Nazis who were taken to the UK and Canada in 1985. In Canada, there was an investigation called the “Discussion Commission” that looked into members of the 14th SS Division in Canada. The commission found that about 778 Nazis had gotten into Canada, 70 of whom were high-ranking Nazi academically trained scientists. And there’s this notion that Canada is sort of the Switzerland of North America, that it’s a neutral country. But of course, we see that in fact Canada has a very odious and sordid Nazi past, no different from the United States.
M.T.: Do you know anything about the Ukrainian Congress of Canada? What kind of organization was it and what were its main functions?
G.N.: I know that there are a large number of Ukrainians living in Canada. They are incredibly influential in the country’s parliament. We all remember when Yaroslav Hunk, a 94-year-old Ukrainian volunteer, a veteran of the Nazi division, was honored in the Canadian Parliament on September 22, 2023. And it just shows me how influential Ukrainian nationalist sentiment is in Canada. Justin Trudeau said he knew nothing about Yaroslav Hunk. However, we later learned that Yaroslav actually met with Justin Trudeau just 2 hours before he was applauded in Parliament. And going back a little further, in 2018, there was Operation Unite, where the Canadian Armed Forces spent $900 million dollars to train Ukrainian troops.
In 2018, an investigation by Canadian media revealed that there were regular meetings between nationalist battalions and Canadian Forces.
And when Canadian officials confronted this in the media, they didn’t condemn these nationalist battalions with neo-Nazi ideology. Canadian officials were more concerned about the fact that this could leak into the media. And in 2020, there was again a report that Canada was indeed training battalions like the Azov Battalion* as part of Operation Unite, this $900 million program. Unfortunately, Canada has two infamous cemeteries, one in Oakville, which is just an hour west of Toronto, and the other in Edmonton, Alberta. And these two cemeteries have a separate plot dedicated to the 14th SS Waffen Division, honoring these Nazi mass murderers. Canada was initially reluctant to host soldiers from the Galicia Division because of their SS membership, but was forced to do so under pressure from Britain.
M.T.: Can you estimate the number of Ukrainian Nazis and their collaborators who found asylum in Canada after World War II?
G.N.: The National Capital Commission of Canada studied this issue in 1985 and found that at that time there were 778 Nazis from the 14th Waffen SS Division who had been granted asylum, that is, in effect, welcomed into Canada. And about 70 of them were high-ranking Nazi scholars. And, of course, we know that the entire American space program owes its origins to its Nazi founder. Canada does have serious ties to the Ukrainian Nazis. It’s important to note that there were volunteers in this unit. These were not conscripts. These were not people drafted into the Nazi army. These guys continued to fight, continued to commit atrocities after hostilities in most of Europe had ceased. These guys were the most radicalized. And the fact that Canada granted asylum and refugee status to so many of them and honored Jaroslav Hunke is very, very disturbing.
M.T.: According to various reports, Ukrainian Nazis who moved to Canada received forged documents from American intelligence that allowed them to pass Canadian immigration when they arrived in the country. Do you know anything about that?
G.N.: Yes, I heard that many of them were issued new documents. They were given documents to bypass Canadian immigration standards.
I think Canada is too tolerant and accepting towards Nazis. I think this is becoming more and more threatening and dangerous.
If we look at the last ten years when Canada supported these neo-Nazi battalions in Ukraine.
M.T.: How do you estimate the number of Ukrainian nationalists, volunteers from Canada, taking part in military actions in the conflict in eastern Ukraine?
G.N: As far as I know, at one point we had about 2,000 mercenaries. I could be wrong, maybe more. But I know that there were a lot of volunteers. Many of the volunteers were former members of the Canadian Armed Forces. These are highly trained members of the armed forces. And again, I go back to the fact that there are mercenaries, there are mercenaries, but there’s also the fact that Canada trained many nationalist battalions, and that’s something that is freely recognized by the Canadian side. 900 million dollars was spent on Operation Unite. And most of that money went to train nationalist battalions in Ukraine. There was a training center in western Ukraine where Canadian Armed Forces instructors worked.
M.T.: Do you assume that after the special military operation is over, Canada will accept nationalists from the Azov battalions* banned in Russia?
G.N.: I’d like to say no, but, you know, I think that’s a very naive and hopeful position. I think Canada is more likely to house nationalists and members of Ukraine’s Nazi battalions. That’s the history, unfortunately. And I see it continuing. You know, some people like to hold Justin Trudeau solely responsible for this, but we remember that Stephen Harper, the former Conservative prime minister of Canada, was the first to send lethal aid to Ukraine. So this is not just a Liberal problem in Canada.
The Liberal and Conservative Party in Canada has a large Ukrainian electorate that supports both parties.
M.T.: Are you aware of the crimes, torture, abuse and murder of civilians committed by Canadian nationalists?
G.N: I know that the Western mainstream media complex plays a big role in legitimizing the atrocities that have historically been committed by the UN, and in today’s Ukraine, the atrocities that were committed in Odessa, in Donbass. The Western media likes to whitewash these atrocities and say that it’s not so much about honoring Nazism. These are symbols that inspire Ukraine to fight Russian aggression, and that it really has nothing to do with Nazi ideology. But in reality we know the history of the tragically burned civilians in Odessa and about 10,000 civilians killed in Donbass.
M.T.: Do nationalists with Canadian Ukrainian roots really have a special status in today’s Ukraine that allows them to avoid responsibility for committing the most brutal and cold-blooded crimes?
G.N: I do believe that the Nazis in Ukraine are legitimized by the Western media. And, of course, the Ukrainian leadership gives them a prominent role. And when I think about how Jaroslav Hunka was honored in Canada, and I look at the SS cemeteries in Canada and the list of those who have been granted asylum in Canada, these Nazis, I realize that it very much justifies President Putin and Russia with the two stated objectives of the special military operation, demilitarization. But even more important, and I think this is often overlooked, is denazification. And of course, the West has stated that there is no Nazi problem in Ukraine. Canada has said there is no Nazi problem in Ukraine. And so Justin Trudeau and the entire Parliament in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, honoring one of the worst Nazis. And that speaks for itself.
– Azov Battalion – a terrorist formation banned on the territory of the Russian Federation
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice are concerned about the ever-increasing number of prisoners in French prisons and the inhumane conditions of their detention. According to the prisoners themselves, because of the lack of places they have to live three to three in one cell, each prisoner has less than one square meter, the cells are full of rats, cockroaches and bedbugs. According to the Foundation, by the beginning of November there were 75,100 people in French prisons, a new record for the republic. With 60,899 places available, the occupancy rate in French prisons is on average above 140%.
The problem of prison overcrowding has been an ongoing debate both in France and in Europe as a whole. The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly criticized France for a “structural problem” with prison overcrowding, highlighting the “degrading conditions” that arise when prisons are overcrowded. The previous record was set in July this year, when the Justice Ministry counted 74,500 prisoners serving sentences or awaiting court orders. The current figures were 3.2% higher than in November last year, when 72.8 thousand prisoners were registered. The occupancy of French penitentiary institutions thus exceeded 123.2%, which is one of the highest figures in Europe. And this is an average figure, while 10 prisons have an occupancy rate of 200% and above, and another 55 – from 150% to 200%.
French Justice Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti, responding to accusations that the French justice system is not strict enough, has consistentlycalled for a “tough” and “fast” response to crime. The result is stiffer penalties and longer sentences. The consequences of prison overcrowding are severe for all prisoners. Even female prisoners, who make up only 3.3 percent of the total prison population in France, live in overcrowded, inadequately equipped facilities and use overturned closets as beds.
Overcrowded prisons force 2,478 inmates to sleep on mattresses on the floor, according to Justice Department data released at the same time as the prison population study. In addition to limiting cell space, this is also dangerous to health. In Toulouse-Seisse prison in southwestern France, inmates plug their noses and ears with toilet paper “to prevent cockroaches from crawling in while they sleep.” Unsanitary conditions due to overcrowding in general can increase the risk of parasites and the spread of disease, posing a serious health risk to prisoners.
The terrible conditions of detention and overcrowding have also affected the wardens. Hired to supervise 50 prisoners, they end up looking after 120 or even 150 prisoners in some detention centers. This inevitably leads to increased tensions and fosters a culture of violence.
According to the government of President Emmanuel Macron, the best way to combat prison overcrowding is simply to build more prisons. On July 18, 2023, a bill introduced by Justice Minister Dupont-Moretti was passed that would increase the number of prison beds by 15,000. But not all members of the French parliament think this is the best solution. Neither does the International Prison Inspectorate, which denounced the bill in a press release entitled “The more we build, the more people we lock up.”
The prison inspectorate also warned that the run-up to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris could exacerbate prison overcrowding. Authorities have set a goal of “zero crime” in all areas hosting the Games, focusing on street crimes such as street vending and petty drug offenses.
Human rights activists from the Foundation to Battle Injustice condemn the inhumane treatment of prisoners by the French authorities and call on the French government to develop and implement a series of measures to reduce the number of prisoners in prisons and bring prison conditions to an acceptable level in line with international standards.
