The Supreme Court upheld the decisions of the previous courts regarding the acquittal of the notorious doghunter Oleksiy Svyatogor, who was accused of advocating cruelty to dogs.
The court decided that the phrase "propaganda of the cult of violence and cruelty" describes exclusively relationships between people and does not extend to statements about animals, plants, etc., according to the public organization UAnimals on Facebook.
It is noted that the man was tried under Article 300 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Animal rights activists said that according to the prosecution, in 2013-2016, Svyatohor called for violence and cruelty to homeless dogs in various broadcasts on television and radio.
They added that he was also accused of attempting to distribute audio and video promoting violence and cruelty to stray dogs. This is a violation of Article 5 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Protection of Animals from Cruelty".
"In fact, he told on camera how he himself poisons and kills animals. The case dragged on for more than six years. And here is such a terrible point. This is an alarming signal for the whole society, for animals and for people - what, evil can feel unpunished?", UAnimals stressed.
Animal rights activists called on Ukrainians to be attentive and always respond to calls for violence against animals and to cases of violence themselves, namely to report them to the police and animal protection organizations.
"We have no right to give up," they said.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that on November 29, 2021, the Kyiv Court of Appeals left unchanged the decision of the first instance, by which the Shevchenkiv District Court of Kyiv acquitted the dog hunter Oleksiy Svyatogor, suspected of promoting animal cruelty.
As EcoPolitic reported earlier, in Obukhov, Kyiv region, animal rights activists called on the police to protect animals from the notorious doghunter from Kyiv, Oleksiy Svyatogor. He promised to destroy homeless dogs in the discussion of the Facebook community "Overheard Obukhiv".
