This was discussed during press conference "Why the Union of Architects in Ukraine. Who and why wants to destroy it?", what took place on Monday, February 13.
In particular, the president of the National Union of Architects of Ukraine, Oleksandr Chyzhevsky, emphasized that the Union of Architects is currently under tremendous pressure, and hundreds of architects cannot fully carry out their professional activities.
Oleksandr Chyzhevskyi, president of the National Union of Architects of Ukraine
"Our union is being killed. They are killing an 86-year-old union that has national status and has 5600 union members and certified architects who work and create in different regions of Ukraine. We are under tremendous pressure. Criminal proceedings have been opened against me and two of my colleagues. Obviously, this is revenge for the active position of the professional architectural community regarding the scandalous bill No. 5655, which is being lobbied in favor of the construction business by the leadership of the specialized committee of the Verkhovna Rada and the Ministry of Regions. We have been working and fighting for one and a half years to improve it, and now also against it, in the form in which it is.
My colleagues and I are charged with illegal interference in the unified electronic system of construction in the absence of the relevant powers in our union. We are convinced that there is no crime or selfish interests in our actions. In July-August 2022, the usual attestation procedures took place, in accordance with the current legislation, government regulations and our intra-union documents. The certification commission resumed its work for the first time after the full-scale invasion of Russia, all decisions, as always, were made in a balanced and collegial manner," Chizhevsky said.
The President of the Union added that the screenshots from the confiscated phone posted on the official Telegram channel of the SBU are proof of the pressure on him personally.
“I'm ready to comment on any of them, there's nothing there except the usual routine work that is related to solving the problems that usually arise in someone personally or in their relationship with their enterprises. I must state that currently, due to the efforts of the Security Service of Ukraine with the support of the prosecutor's office and the National Police, the Union of Architects is illegally deprived of the opportunity to carry out its legal activities regarding the professional certification of architects and help them interact with the Unified Electronic System in the field of construction.
A tragic situation has occurred for dozens or perhaps hundreds of architects of Ukraine, when they cannot upload their completed projects to the Unified Electronic System, which means they cannot complete the work and, accordingly, receive funds from customers for themselves and their colleagues. As the president of the Union, I have hundreds of letters, we receive appeals that we cannot solve today. It is not just the union apparatus that is being killed, but the industry as a whole. People lose the opportunity to work, receive orders, lose money. I am forced to speak publicly because I do not see the possibility of achieving justice. This leads to a loss of trust in the state and in state institutions," Chyzhevsky said.
The President of the Union emphasized that both he and the entire architectural community consider the actions of the Security Service of Ukraine, the Prosecutor's Office and the National Police as "pressure and deliberate destruction of the profession of an architect, which is beyond the limits of morality and common sense in a European country during the war."
The deputy head of the Architectural Chamber of the National Union of Architects of Ukraine, Anna Kyriy, also connected the actions of law enforcement officers with criticism of draft law No. 5655, which is called "city-killing" and "city-rape" within the architectural community.
"We have been criticizing bill 5655 as a reform of urban rape for almost two years. They want to destroy us for this, because independent organizations do not like lobbyists 5655, they only need dependent ones. Exactly two months ago, on December 13, the Verkhovna Rada adopted this draft law thanks to the votes of OPZZH. A petition to veto the law gained the necessary 25 votes on the day of the vote. In a couple of days - a record 000 votes. Society was unequivocally against.
The Association of Cities of Ukraine opposes 5655, more than 1000 deputies of local councils voted for an appeal to the president to impose a veto. As of today, there is no solution. There is no signature under the law, no veto, no response to the petition. And while there is no solution, the lobbyists of the city-killing reform are setting up a circus tent with SBU searches, criminal cases, a media campaign to discredit architects, blocking architectural activity," Kyriy said.
Anna Kyriy, deputy head of the Architectural Chamber of the National Union of Architects of Ukraine
Lawyer Yaroslav Yatsenko, who represents the interests of NSAU, noted that if we analyze the raised suspicions, there was no unauthorized intervention in the Electronic System based on the prior conspiracy of a group of persons and there were no incidents of crime at all. According to him, according to the law, the powers delegated to the self-governing organization are indefinite.
"The prescribed procedure for terminating these powers is based on the relevant order of the Ministry of Regions, which must be entered into the Unified State System in the field of construction, after which the qualified electronic signature is automatically canceled. In this case, no decision was made to terminate the powers of the NSAU. No data was entered into the electronic system.
The commission secretary's electronic key was not revoked. That is, it was working, it was simply removed during one of the searches, and it is impossible to use it. Also, the presence of delegated powers is confirmed by information in the Unified State System in the field of construction, which is publicly available and can be checked by anyone. Accordingly, they are valid and valid until they are withdrawn," said the lawyer.
Yatsenko emphasized that 20 certificates were issued by the union and another 25 were withdrawn, because in the last case the architects did not undergo advanced training, which should be done every 5 years. In addition, they later turned out to be collaborators, as they are members of the Union of Architects of Russia.
"From all this, we can conclude that there is no crime at all. There were no criminal actions related to the unauthorized intervention in the Electronic System, and these suspicions look far-fetched, unfounded and contrary to the law," the lawyer emphasized.
Yatsenko added that half a year has passed since the information about the above-mentioned certificates was entered, and criminal proceedings began as early as January 2022.
"We can conclude that they waited and searched for a long time, what exactly can be incriminated. This entry of information occurred in August, and accordingly, an investigation immediately began. But suspicions were not served for half a year, because the investigating party obviously could not properly formulate any accusations that could be incriminated," he said.
According to human rights defender Ihor Gets, the union itself, through the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine, has initiated the procedure for initiating criminal proceedings based on commission by the investigator and prosecutor of the crime provided for in Article 372 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "Putting a known innocent person to criminal responsibility".
See also:
"This is what makes me feel hopeless." The Chief Architect of Lviv on Law No. 5655