Post Staff Writer
 Tetyana Basun�s remaining physical reminder of injuries she sustained when struck by an automobile on Dec. 17 is a black eye. She and about 60 others were picketing the KyivSilMash factory at the time of the accident. (Post Photo by Roman Zakaluzny) |
A landlord is facing a criminal investigation after he allegedly struck a group of tenants with his car, requiring one woman to be hospitalized. The simmering landlord-tenant dispute began after Mykola Lobas bought a controlling stake in KyivSilMash, a farm equipment manufacturing company in Chabany, Kyiv oblast. The business includes a factory and a residential building originally built to house factory workers and their families. |
Lobas� apparent attempts to evict the 80 families led to the incident on Nov. 17. On that day, Lobas allegedly attempted to run down four tenants who were picketing the factory.
Lobas assumed management of the factory and apartment building shortly after acquiring a majority stake in the company. The apartments had been built in 1963 to temporarily house the plant�s workers while permanent apartments were built.
The permanent flats never materialized, and today 80 families live in the un-renovated apartment building. Each family shares a communal kitchen, toilet and shower with four other families.
One resident, Tetyana Basun, has been on a waiting list for a new apartment since 1985.
Basun said that the building�s residents were notified on Nov. 7 that their utilities and communal expenses would increase from Hr 70 to Hr 230 a month, and that the increase was retroactive to July. Those 17 families out of the 80 who have at least one family member employed by KyivSilMash found the utility charges deducted from their salaries. Other tenants, meanwhile, most of whom earn low wages, were unable to pay the new rates.
On Nov. 15, Lobas had the power to the apartments disconnected.
�They turned off our lights,� said Basun. �For three days, starting on a Saturday. We walked around with candles everywhere � to the toilet, to the bedroom, to the kitchen, everywhere.�
The blackout affected all of the residents, regardless of whether they had paid. Children could not do homework, and food rotted in the refrigerators.
On Nov. 17, 60 residents, some of whom work for KyivSilMash, picketed the factory, attracting media coverage that included an ICTV camera crew. The residents asked to meet with Lobas.
Basun said that at about 5:20 p.m., Lobas left his office at the factory and got into his automobile, an Audi 8. Protester Oksana Sokil said she could clearly see Lobas behind the wheel of his car, with his wife seated next to him.
�We had laid down some branches across the entrance to the factory,� Sokil said. �The car came out of the parking lot and picked up speed.�
The car sped passed the entrance, striking four of the demonstrators.
�No one thought that he would run us down. I jumped out of the way,� Sokil said, �He didn�t even stop after he mowed the others down. He just kept going.�
Basun was the most seriously injured of those hit by the car, sustaining multiple bruises and a concussion. The Audi hit Basun in the hip, spinning her around and knocking her to the pavement.
�I lost consciousness,� said Basun. �My husband picked me up.�
Basun spent three weeks in the central regional hospital in Boyark, near Chabany. A black eye is the most visible remaining sign of the accident.
Lobas did not visit her in the hospital, and there has been no apology.
Police say that the incident is under investigation, but no arrests have been made.
The power to the apartments was restored later that day.
Lobas declined the Post�s repeated requests for an interview.
The residents say that Lobas is now threatening to put steel doors on the building to lock them out.
The Chabany village council set up a commission to look into the housing dispute, according to Vasyl Kukharuk, the village�s elected head.
�The commission assembled all of the material and passed it on to the Kyiv-Sviatioshyn Regional Administration,� Kukharuk said. �A criminal investigation has been started. Police are looking into the matter.�
Kukharuk said that Lobas �considers the building his, and he wants to remodel some of the apartments.�
But Kukharuk said that Lobas had not sought permission from the village council before proceeding with his remodeling plans.
�Redevelopment is one thing, but he needed to clear it with our council before he starts,� he said.
The residents claim that Lobas wants to extensively remodel the apartment building as soon as possible and to sell them. That would leave the building�s present residents, many of whom have waited for 18 years for new apartments, with nowhere to go if they are evicted.
�He wants to sell the building,� Basun said. �People have been coming by to look at it. Even while we still live here, they come into our apartments and look around.�
Basun said that she and the other tenants only want electrical power and a place to live. In the meantime, she lives with her remaining injuries and with memories that she says give her nightmares.
�The doctors said I could go back to work,� said Basun. �How can I go to work with this black eye? I work with children! They�ll think my husband beats me, when in fact it�s Lobas.�