October 1 was Igor Ponochovny's last day at work. He had held the position of Crimean prosecutor since 2019. He left it, writing a letter of resignation of his own accord, but sources at CEMAAT - both in the Crimean prosecutor's office and in the office of the Prosecutor General - say that few people had been listening to Ponochovny's true wishes lately.

"There had been tension in the relationship for a long time. It is difficult to say exactly why, but even to the naked eye it was obvious: PARKS (the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol - Ed.) often interfered in cases that the Prosecutor General's Office considered its own, and even achieved good results," says my interlocutor from the Prosecutor General's Office. According to him, the leadership was very irritated by the independence of the Crimean prosecutor's office. That is why, when Ponochovny's five-year term in office ended, they did not extend it, but instead offered him to write a letter of resignation “of his own accord,” without making any offers to work in another prosecutor's office.

It's not about Igor Ponochovny's personal relationship with Ruslan Kravchenko, the 35-year-old, youngest Ukrainian prosecutor general, who was appointed three months ago. Or at least not only about that. Kravchenko's office did not appoint a new head of the Crimean prosecutor's office, and at the same time as “squeezing out” Ponochovny, it dismissed fifteen of his subordinates, eight of whom were prosecutors. This is what is causing human rights activists to sound the alarm: the situation has all the signs of the liquidation of PARKS as such. All human rights representatives interviewed by CEMAAT call this decision by the authorities a mistake. According to them, the trust and cooperation that had recently prevailed between human rights defenders and the Crimean prosecutor's office had yielded good results. 

Through joint efforts, 14 submissions on war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Crimea were sent to the International Criminal Court. In addition, PARKS representatives led a group of experts that developed a unique model for the return of criminal justice to the de-occupied territories. 

"The current situation in the prosecutor's office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol threatens the stability and effectiveness of investigations into international crimes committed as a result of the occupation of Ukrainian territories. The reduction in qualified personnel jeopardizes the effectiveness of investigations into international crimes in Crimea and may lead to the loss of institutional experience in investigating international crimes," commented Olga Skrypnyk, head of the Crimean Human Rights Group. 

In her opinion, the decisions regarding PARKS, which the Prosecutor General's Office does not even explain, create the risk of losing powerful expertise that has been developed over many years. After all, the Crimean prosecutor's office team is a group of strong specialists in international law who have extensive experience in documenting crimes without access to the territory and victims. It was this work that allowed the International Criminal Court to issue a warrant for Putin's arrest for the mass abduction of Ukrainian children. The destruction of the Crimean prosecutor's office jeopardizes Ukraine's contribution to international justice and the achievement of justice for the victims who are waiting for it, say human rights activists.

Those who work directly in the occupied territory, among other things, draw attention to the increased risk of disclosure of information on cases handled by PARKS. “Unfortunately, we have seen the serious consequences of poor personnel decisions in other law enforcement agencies, which have led to leaks of information about victims and witnesses of international crimes,” says a representative of the human rights initiative Irade. This clearly refers to Oleg Kulinich, head of the SBU office in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, who has been behind bars for three years on suspicion of treason. "So when murky schemes begin to remove a leader who has worked without complaint for six years, it is, to put it mildly, disturbing. The situation is already so difficult that we cannot afford to waste people and institutions," says the human rights activist.

His colleagues also point out that PARKS is one of the few Crimean structures whose work has been resumed in the government-controlled territory. Therefore, its preservation is an important signal that Ukraine continues to plan the de-occupation of Crimea and the restoration of criminal justice on the peninsula. 

"Recently, at the initiative of President Zelensky, the 5th Crimean Platform summit was held in New York, where the world discussed the importance of de-occupying the Crimean peninsula, justice, and Russia's responsibility for crimes in the occupied territories. Therefore, the trends we are seeing around PARKS may not only jeopardize the work of PARKS itself, but also undermine the efforts of our country's leadership,“ says human rights activist, expert of the Coalition ”Ukraine. 5 a.m." and the Crimean Platform Expert Network Daria Svyrydova. 

Fourteen civil society organizations have appealed to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine to meet and discuss the situation surrounding the Crimean prosecutor's office. There has been no response to the appeal so far.