On December 9, International Anti-Corruption Day, activists and the public in Kyiv demanded lustration of the Prosecutor General’s office. In particular, they clamored for firing Prosecutor General Vitalii Yarema and his first deputy Oleh Bachun.
The activists brought trash containers, tires, and slogans with them, and performed a parody on corrupt judges. According to the organizers, around 500 persons took part in the protest, including representatives of NGOs, workers of the Zhytomyr Confectionary Factory, journalists, bloggers, and local activists.
As a reminder, the workers of the Zhytomyr Confectionary Factory have already protested several times in Kyiv. The management of the factory claims that Bachun, deputy prosecutor general, demanded a monthly pay-off of 30,000 US dollars from the factory. The workers insist that Bachun be fired from his post in the General Prosecutor’s office.
On the same day another street action took place on Maidan, a flash mob “Bribery-Free Hryvnia for Grafter.” The event was dedicated to the International Anti-Corruption Day. Residents and guests of Kyiv received “bribery-free hryvnias” with zero face value as a means of counteracting extortion by corrupt officials, judges, prosecutors, road cops and so on.
The flash mob included a performance, during which the Grafter was handed a huge Bribery-Free Hryvnia note and subsequently arrested for corruption.
The Bribery-Free Hryvnia was conceived by activists of the movement “No to bribery! I do not give or take bribes.”
