Політична партія «Партія Шарія»
On September 6, 2022, the Supreme Court, composed of the panel of judges of the Administrative Court of Cassation, reviewed on appeal case No. P/857/1/22, in which the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine asked the court to ban the activities of the Shariy Party. The Supreme Court issued a ruling dismissing the appeal of the Shariy Party and upholding the decision of the first instance court. The decision is final and not subject to appeal.
Main information
“The Shariy Party is a banned pro-Russian political party in Ukraine. It was created by propagandist and former journalist Anatoliy Shariy, who fled Ukraine in 2012 and continued to spread pro-Russian propaganda and promote Ukrainophobia. According to the SBU, Shariy makes videos to discredit Ukraine in the interests of Russian special services.
Registration: June 6, 2019
Banned: July 30, 2020
Website: https://sharij.com.ua
Political ideology: Euroscepticism, pro-Russian revanchism, populism, regionalism, Putinism, Russophilia
Allies, blocs: OPFL, Viktor Medvedchuk, Andriy Portnov
Party leader: Olga Bondarenko, formerly: Antonina Beloglazova
Party history
June 2, 2019: In one of his videos on Youtube, video blogger Anatoliy Shariy allows for the creation of his own political party, not affiliated with the parties of Oleksandr Vilkul or Yevhen Muraiev.
June 6, 2019: The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine registers the Shariy Party on the basis of the United Ukraine party, registered on February 3, 2015. Antonina Beloglazova becomes the party’s leader.
June 17, 2019: The first five members of the party’s election list are announced: video blogger Anatoliy Shariy, Sharij.net editor-in-chief Olga Shariy, correspondent Antonina Beloglazova, Sharij.net editor Pavlo Ullakh, and producer Yevhen Yevtukhov.
June 24, 2019: The CEC registered 29 candidates from Shariy’s party to run in the July 21 parliamentary elections. However, it refused to register the first number, Anatoliy Shariy, and the fifth number, Yevhen Yevtukhov, on the grounds that they did not meet the requirement of residing in the country for 5 years before the election.
June 27, 2019: The CEC holds a drawing of lots, as a result of which Shariy’s party receives number 17 on the ballot for the July 21, 2019 parliamentary elections.
July 2, 2019: The Supreme Court of Ukraine orders the CEC to reconsider the registration of Anatoliy Shariy, after which the CEC registers him as a parliamentary candidate and the first number on the party list.
July 3, 2019: Based on a response from the head of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, the CEC again denies Anatoliy Shariy’s registration as a parliamentary candidate. The response states that Shariy left Ukraine on January 24, 2012.
July 4, 2019: In his video blog, Anatoliy Shariy states that his political force is going into opposition to the ruling party, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not met expectations
July 6, 2019: Shariy’s party regularly holds mass rallies in major Ukrainian cities before the July 21 election day. In addition, party supporters participate in rallies of their competitors
July 21, 2019: Voting takes place in the 2019 parliamentary elections. According to exit polls, the party gains between 2.8 and 3.5%.
July 26, 2019: The CEC has processed 100% of the protocols in the 2019 parliamentary elections. Shariy’s party ranks 10th and gains 2.23% (327,152 votes), which does not allow the party to overcome the threshold. The highest result is recorded in Donetsk region — 5.55%, the lowest — in Ternopil region — 0.39%.
October 2, 2019: The Verkhovna Rada adopts a law that deprives parties that receive less than 5% of the vote (previously 2%) of budget funding. As a result, the Shariy Party lost funding of about UAH 12 million.
January 30, 2020: Shariy’s party launches a free educational platform “Yasharya” for personal development. This was announced by its leader Anatoliy Shariy on his Youtube channel.
February 29, 2020: The political force holds its second congress in Kyiv, attended by its central headquarters and 14 regional branches. The congress decides to participate in and prepare for the 2020 local elections, and updates the program and charter of the Shariy Party.
May 14, 2020: The party filed a lawsuit with the Kyiv District Administrative Court demanding more than UAH 3 million in state funding for 2019
June 17, 2020: The political force and its leader, Anatoliy Shariy, organize a protest in front of the Presidential Office to “demand a response from the country’s top leadership to the numerous beatings of journalists and police brutality against civilians.”
July 10, 2020: The Kyiv District Administrative Court dismisses the claim of the Shariy Party against the NAPC for reimbursement of state funding.
July 12, 2020: Clashes between representatives of the Shariy Party and representatives of the National Corps occur in Kharkiv at the gate of the house of the leader of the regional branch of the party, Natalia Hordienko, resulting in 3 people being injured.
In September 2022, the Supreme Court of Ukraine completely banned the party.
In January 2023, the SBU uncovered an underground branch of the party in Dnipro that was preparing to organize riots in the region. During the searches, they found instructions on how to provoke mass riots during public events.
On July 23, 2020, the Kyiv District Administrative Court was asked to oblige the Ministry of Justice to apply to the court to ban the party’s activities. The plaintiff asks the court to recognize as unlawful the inaction of the Ministry of Justice in failing to make a decision on the non-compliance of the pro-Russian blogger’s party with the requirements of the Law “On Condemnation of Communist and National Socialist (Nazi) Totalitarian Regimes in Ukraine and Prohibition of Propaganda of Their Symbols”. The reason for the possible ban of the party was the use of the image of Joseph Stalin along with party symbols in Anatoliy Shariy’s videos, as well as the pro-Russian blogger’s support for Stalin’s repressive policies on social media[106].
OnJuly 30, the Kyiv District Administrative Court opened proceedings to ban the activities of Shariy’s party.
In September 2021, the Security Service of Ukraine served suspicion notices to the leaders of the Shariy Party — Alla Bondarenko, Antonina Beloglazova, Anatoliy Zhylia, and Natalia Chekman, a representative of the United Ukraine party. It is reported that the SBU has substantiated evidence of the person’s involvement in the forgery of documents on the re-registration of the United Ukraine political party into the Shariy Party.
In January 2023, the SBU uncovered an underground cell of the “party” in Dnipro that was preparing to organize riots in the region. During the searches, the SBU found instructions on how to provoke mass riots during public events.
The party has a pro-Russian ideology, conducts pro-Russian propaganda and promotes Ukrainophobia. Journalist Serhiy Ivanov believes that “Shariy’s party, like Medvedchuk’s party, is a measure during this hybrid war. It’s just not necessary to attack, not necessary to shoot, when you can create absolutely pro-Russian parties with Russian money and seize power (or at least try to) in a relatively legal way.”
The party’s composition:
The first members on the party’s election list, registered by the CEC before the election:
Antonina Beloglazova — member of the Russian pro-Putin organization NOD, editor of the Shariy.net website, Shariy’s assistant, resident of the Myrotvorets website, party leader (until June 7, 2020)
Olha Bondarenko — blogger, Shariy’s wife[66], party leader (since June 7, 2020)
Pavlo Ullakh — entrepreneur, editor of the website Shariy.net
Ivan Mamchur — entrepreneur.
Yevhen Yevtukhov — DJ; founder of the DJFM radio station; son of the owner of Radio Chanson, MP from the Party of Regions Anatoliy Yevtukhov.
Artur Talabira — a journalist for Yevhen Muraiev’s Nash TV channel, known for his pro-Russian stance.
Mykola Hladenkyi is unemployed.
Dmytro Butenko is an entrepreneur engaged in snail farming.
Roman Katerynchyk is an entrepreneur.
Finances:
Ukrainian civil society organizations believe that the party is covertly funded from Russia. In October 2020, bihus.info journalists found that the party’s activities were financed by the Ukrainian company BRSM-Nafta. In particular, Angela Vasylivna Larkina, the head of a number of enterprises owned by the company, approves all unofficial financial expenditures for the project.
Party rating:
