In 2022, 316 criminal proceedings under Art. 436-1 of the Criminal Code (dissemination of communist, nazi symbols and propaganda of the communist regime) were opened in Ukraine, which is five times more than in 2021, the Prosecutor General's Office responded to a request from an LB.ua correspondent.
Thus, if during the whole period of the new law being in force from 2014 to 2022, 284 criminal proceedings were opened, of which 39 were referred to court, in 2022 alone there were 316 criminal proceedings, of which 83 were referred to court.
Another 47 proceedings were closed for lack of corpus delicti.
"Unfortunately, there are still cases when the sabotage of the dismantling of communist monuments and sabotage of renaming are not being investigated. For example, the police closed proceedings against officials who restored a monument to a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Karlivka," Vadym Poznyakov, founder of the project Decommunization.Ukraine told LB.ua.
The law on decommunization came into force in 2015. It bans Soviet symbols in Ukraine, condemns the communist regime, opens KGB archives and recognizes Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) soldiers as fighters for Ukraine's independence.